1. I ask you, is there anyone well-versed in the affairs of Sulayman?
For in the night of my worries, I lost the paths of my eyelids.

2. And do you have any knowledge of my patience having waned?
For I have lost the beauty of patience - loss pains me greatly.

3. They say, lessen some of the passion within you,
And the comforted think little of what the afflicted endure.

4. The vast earth feels constricted around me,
As does the knotted waistband around my waist.

5. My lingering longing never ceases within my ribs,
Whenever I refrain from the alluring charms of youth.

6. What you see in my parting is not grey hair,
Rather accumulated sorrows of diverse hues.

7. My wakeful eye brought more sorrow, ringed with sighing,
Lamenting the boughs of unicorn trees.

8. To whom are ruins appealing whose vestiges
Are like scribbles of bees in monks’ books?

9. I paused by those ruins as if intimacy’s doubt
Had brought an offering near through proximity.

10. The abodes of loved ones when lit up at dusk
Were like stars whose light adorned a night of my vigils.

11. They fell from the heavens after being its ornament,
So my craving for them is like for three shooting stars.

12. Time assailed me with Yaqub, then after him, Ibrahim -
Those two arrows struck me!

13. If there are differences between calamities,
Nothing compares to losing Ahmad ibn Sulayman.

14. If I were to purely recount my joy,
And summarize my intimacy between shroud and coffin,

15. By God, the days never delighted me once,
Nor was I delighted twice by the third.

16. Fate's turn betrayed them so they crumbled
As a necklace of pearls scattered apart one day.

17. One pioneer turned away, chasing another’s tracks,
As the excellent steeds raced ahead in the arena.

18. By my soul, whoever I greeted casually disregarded me,
Even if he returned the greeting at times.

19. My covenant with him remains whether I call him
With rivers, floods or horses between us.

20. He came closer to me yet his visitation was too far,
So where is my heart compared to his distant sands?

21. Would that my life had not given me the intimacy
Of a friend who walked away and deserted me!

22. Had my soul known on the day he rejected me,
It would have girded itself for rejection.

23. That is death choosing the finest and carefully selecting
Crops for the children of this world as a reaper does.

24. So do not begrudge what perishes, live and bid farewell to others,
Fate refused to keep the mortal creature alive.

25. His soul is a man’s true friend, if truth be told,
And what relation is there between a soul and a corpse?

26. A palm without an ally to support it -
What is the state of an eye afflicted with human loss?

27. It made me heedless of calamities and did not watch over
My soul, while time deserted me and left me behind.

28. Is not every composite destined for dissolution?
On this matter, there is no disagreement between two.

29. Fate slyly plots against me in its purposes,
So if I say, rights have made their claims on me, they counterclaim.

30. And I hope to survive in a small part of a fortress,
For I have exceeded the realm of aspirations.

31. O Yaqub, my sadness for you will not wane,
Nor will intimacy with one who knew you make me forget.

32. Neither did the present delight me in the distance
Nor did my disgraced life in remoteness.

33. So who will shed a copious tear for you in their eyelids
And a heart crying in their throats for you?

34. I attributed my tears to the rainwater of the sky,
Bequeathing me anemones and poppies within it.

35. Whenever the wind blew its clouds heavily,
It watered the faithful with a burden from them.

36. My tears used to be pure before,
But my addiction to crying addicted me.

37. You were a firm pillar and able support for me,
Lasting, tried, privy to my secrets and overt.

38. Basil, spirit and approval clothe your grave,
For you were the spirit of my life and its basil.

39. Care's burden was relieved at your burial place,
Comforting you through every gentle lament.

40. Ibrahim was but an orchard of virtue,
Bearing fruit in every season for all.

41. Trustworthy with guarded secrets, protective
Of keeping them if another found it hard to conceal.

42. If those virtues have withered into dust,
My renewed sorrow will persist as long as renewal itself.

43. Alas for the bliss and verdure they possessed!
And yearning for the departed youth and prime of their life!

44. I remembered you while our days were secure and we were united,
And the days smiled with contentment.

45. While the admired narcissus gazes with staring eyes,
And the singer laments with pricked up ears.

46. The sun leans towards setting, bent over
Like a golden dinar tilting in the scales.

47. Fate has folded up the carpet except for remembrance,
As if the hot sands do not soak up the water skins.

48. When friends are mentioned, who is like Ahmad?
Indeed, after him every pasture is devoid of luck.

49. The treasures of my days, the central pearl of my necklace,
The essence of my loyalty and the wisdom of my book.

50. The one who if I strayed from the right course one day,
Guided me back to the path and directed me.

51. I passed those martyrs with my teary eyes as if
They had watered it between my eyelids.

52. Loyal friends in adversity, a reserve
When the severest afflictions bore fruit.

53. Fate destined them the abode of perdition, so they endured
And settled as the most noble guests of God.

54. They deserve to be envied for moving
To the eternal world, from this transient one.

55. How short was the meeting, though distant the journey!
How close is what lies between the swift and the slow!

56. You settled, stirring up the heat of my feelings,
You left, conjuring the anxieties of my sorrows.

57. You hastened to eternal bliss, and here am I -
Oh what misery to dwell among the people of Paradise!

58. Had I given my soul its due,
I would not have betrayed the noble pact.

59. I never stopped shedding tears over your bodies
Until people said: Worshipper of idols!

60. I roared with the caravan of justice, no slight wavering
In my loyal company - it twins my faith.

61. No shame lies in the ritual of the public baths,
For it is the way of life between youth and aged.

62. By your life! Days do not clear up for one who visits them
Even if the heated wars have lasted between two lined up armies.

63. And consider what comes of its command as what has passed,
For many proofs were based on analogy.

64. Did not fate make Chosroes miserable after his vanity?
And the King of Rum grew weak despite his power?

65. He extended his hand to a sword that repelled his transgression,
So it drew him out in spite of himself from its scabbard,

66. He scowled at the Abbasids,
After previously forcing the Umayyads to drink the cup.

67. How many successors have different fates replaced!
And time’s winds have scattered the crowns of Caesars!

68. It abandoned the lofty palace whose construction
Was with stone - a barren wasteland after prosperity!

69. If glory lasted for the Khosrow one day,
None of the paths of ancient ruins would have cracked.

70. How many a father did fate compel with its restriction,
Then revealed a face of anger to him after pleasure!

71. A brave knight in the past fray of wars,
It cast out of him, against his will, his hot gallbladder's bile.

72. Did the allies of Tubba repel any affliction?
Or did the administration of Persia prevent any hardship?

73. Leading the defiant was hard, inaccessible,
So it surrendered leadership of the world with submission.

74. Fate frowned at the Abbasids,
After forcing the Umayyads to drink first.

75. How many successors has it replaced,
And time’s winds have scattered the crowns of Caesars!

76. It abandoned the erected palace whose building
Was with stone - a barren wasteland after civilization!

77. Had glory lasted a day for Chosroes,
None of the paths of ancient ruins would have cracked.

78. How many a father has fate constricted with its coercion,
Then revealed a face of anger to him after pleasure!

79. A brave knight of the past in the confusion of war,
It cast out two of his hot gall bladders through his nostrils.