1. He is mighty in stature, every tyrant who challenges him is abased
An attribute that has no limit, eyes of onlookers have despaired of perceiving it

2. If I sensed any weakness in him, the Commander of the Faithful would have feared him first
He fills the eyes that overflow with tears, and terrifies the soul until it surrenders

3. The earth is not his equal, can left and right ever be the same?
His insides are turbulent with life, while the insides of the earth are a burial ground for all peoples

4. In its depths there is nothing but intense heat, yet the sea holds many a precious treasure
The heavens draw their rain from him, so if he boasts of generosity he is veracious

5. Each day the sun prostrates to him, as if the sun were indebted to the sea
Blushing like a rose in the embrace of rosy cheeks, it throws itself into his embrace

6. Many alluring scenes and meanings beyond count are displayed over him
The playfulness of youth in the prime of life, and the majesty of old age with the certainty of experience

7. And the expansive wishes lushly green, firm of resolve and sturdy determination
The sea's foam on its blueness is stars of diverse colors

8. Despite the breadth of his chest, he is of fierce temper, kin to demented fools
Was he once clothed by a heavenly being? I wonder, or has he been touched by madness?

9. As the current rises above a mountain, with it a valley that awes onlookers
Do you suppose its waves are but his breaths, echoing between sigh and moan?

10. They are nothing but a raging people, who have declared war on the colonizers
Horde after horde mounting them, warring like advancing troops

11. The morning breeze blew in his face, lifting him like a frown on the brow
And the waves appeared in him as dimples, tickled by the flirts of the playful

12. He is gentle, undisfigured by any harshness - many a harsh man would be better than him if gentle
The anxiety in his entrails is like that of a lover when suppressed passion ignites within his bowels

13. I stood in his surge while dawn still lurked inside the blackness of night, an embryo yet unborn
And the sea birds in their flocks calling to each other like the sails of ships

14. I said to the flock as it approached from the horizon: my heart is his captive
O you who cut across the sea's expanse, do you have a pact with the tribes of Qais?

15. Then the inclination of my heart - the orbits of passion, the home of loved ones, sanctuary of the oppressed
A neighbor whom endless time has wronged, she has no constant supporter against injustice

16. Does she know that, because of separation, there is a lad who yearning has nearly wasted away to the spine?
He has wished to fly to Damascus with a cleft spine, or cross the Styx

17. Like a fledgling whose wings longed to take flight to the nest, but the time was unripe
The fledgling whose wings survive confinement, still remains imprisoned after the lengthy jail term

18. By my father and mother, it is the sanctuary of hopes and the mighty fortress
God give them strength - they sacrificed their souls for it, with the Trustworthy Spirit

19. And they longed, if only they could scent the horizon of Syria, or cut across the Styx