1. The preacher's admonition preached you,
And the old man's interdiction interdicted you,

2. You recanted what you borrowed
Of youth, till you changed to decrepitude.

3. You used to consort with bright damsels
Inside the best houses,

4. And with them, between porch and wall,
Were images to steal reason itself in man’s dress.

5. The pleasure quarters and places of vines forget you,
And so do the battlements and the wickets.

6. Languorous, pregnant, burdened camels forget you,
As do the honor, the swords in the scabbards.

7. Their temples bend sideways,
Their mustaches smelling sweetly aromatic.

8. Like wild cows they passed into a garden,
Casting down pearls.

9. A flower whose butterfly goes to and fro
In profuse scattering and shedding.

10. Now I have turned to abstinence,
And have tested the result of pleasures.

11. This in a sea of waves enclosing ships,
In spaciousness and capacity to accommodate all.

12. With a free genie in it
Whose haunts are thronged.

13. I have approached it because of its spaciousness
Seeking by means of the intrepid she-camel the noblest object of God's grace in the world.

14. O Excellence, you have surpassed range,
So you have transcended all comparison!

15. You are the magnified and the extolled
In eyes and hearts.

16. When minds contemplate you perspicaciously,
They deem you generosity and prolific goodness itself.

17. And when eyes consider you attentively,
They deem you the essence of a discerning glance.

18. You remained mature in your reason
While still in the period of immaturity,

19. Till opulent youth overtook you
And you put on the garment of scarcity.

20. Renounce familiar places and haunts,
Instinct and conscience! By God,

21. God distinguished the Caliphate for you
So He chose you with clear-sightedness.

22. When events perplexed you,
You sufficed to settle matters.

23. You surpassed the tribe absolutely
As Thursday surpasses the rest of the week.

24. Whoever compares others with you
Compares the insignificant with the immense.

25. Where are the sequent stars
Of the lunar mansions and full moons?

26. Where are the few, sons of the few,
Among the many, sons of the many?

27. A people who in the days of Mecca
Endured the greatest vicissitudes;

28. So they protected the provinces of the Caliphate
While it was vast.

29. Had they not stayed therein,
The pillars would have collapsed because of decay.