1. I was content with the ruins of that settlement, with its vestiges,
Until I was content with just hearing tell and reports of it.

2. And my heart wandered, enamored with all it contained,
Even the dirt and stones within it.

3. I welcome the breeze from its valley, embracing it,
As if it were a friend come to me from a journey.

4. And lightning delights my eyes when it flashes for them
From the sand dune, bestowing the pleasure of sight.

5. Blessed is the land of Usfan that shone
With white and brown sands between the white and brown.

6. And blessed is the blue dome of the sky’s sphere
For it covered the moon at night.

7. A lovely girl in the cool of the desert appears
Whose beauty makes finery seem vulgar.

8. She glances with a tender, downcast lid
So we cannot see her with an unbroken heart.

9. We are at the brink of her wrath, though safety
Can sometimes come from danger.

10. When the Nile water grows turbid and disturbed,
The most wholesome things are found in that murk.

11. And visiting Egypt, if I gained it,
Would mean effort followed by triumph’s reward.

12. Who will grant me the chance to visit those lands
So I can fulfill the rights that are granted and owed?

13. Affection between us was planted in the past,
And today I have asked that planting for fruit.

14. I have a right to one whose favor overlooks
Shortcomings, pardoning with a mighty pardon.

15. The pure of heart, no blemish can stain,
And the rightly-guided is near God and man.

16. If his hands in the world can cause harm,
Then in his heart is incapacity for harm.

17. And where one does not fear people cautiously,
He will be in utmost caution of his Lord.

18. If I fell short praising him before,
The raindrops come little at first.

19. And we may think a terse expression
To be prolonged in meaning, not abbreviated.

20. He attained emirship when his position
Was assayed by a state and deemed worthy.

21. The bow gave its arrows in confidence,
Though they were not of arrow and bowstring.

22. Say to the generous one who surpassed the generous:
“You went too far when you left no boast for the boaster.”

23. You continued to rise until you attained a rank
Considered to be among the spheres of brilliant stars.

24. O pillar of the supreme state which sent
The star of magic rising in the east.

25. It sized you up with intent for its ranks,
For they grow greater as you grow in greatness.

26. This is the splendid state we look to—
However long its history, it brought you jewels.