1. With every wild gazelle, the gazelle of humanity
What can we equate between pardon and the horse?

2. If there is a resemblance between the cheek and the eyes
Where is the beauty of the mouth and the spear?

3. A pampered girl from the people of Rayyan
Glances with a look to the lion of the forest stalking prey

4. Glory to Him who created that mouth out of ice
Making it blaze for her, and ignited that cheek with embers

5. The flirt of her glance seduced me when I saw
Languor upon it, the droopiness of drowsiness

6. She spends the night on guard from the glance of her lover
Oh woe to him! His passion for her admits no guard

7. The light of a forehead gleams beneath her veil
What a wonder - the union of dawn and nightfall!

8. And the sword is unsheathed from an eyelid whose swordsman
Is keener than the sword in the grip of a fierce warrior

9. A bride whose charm outshines all other charms
As all of Egypt falls short of Tripoli

10. A town adorned by God the Most High with what
He endowed it of the gifts of the Holy Spirit

11. He established therein a treasure of mysteries for its seeker
More healing than the pouring rain upon arid ground

12. Decipherer of problems, solver of riddles
Explainer of confused issues however complex

13. The composer, the eloquent, the noble and generous
Good souls and breaths testify to his merit

14. Easygoing, sound of heart, free of harm
Pure in manner, integrity unstained

15. From his words pours, like radiant pearls
The first fruits of keen intellect, gleaming at daybreak

16. Choice selections of Arabic verse, enchanted
By their beauty, even the girls of Turkey and Persia

17. When an eloquent tongue of his pours forth in debate
It prevails, rendering mute the tongue of the opponent

18. No diligent one attains the fire of Abraham
Nor reaches his loftiness, however striving

19. O absent from us, heedless and not glancing back
His memory undimmed in our ardour

20. If I cannot win a glance from you
Then a glance culled from your writings will suffice