1. Our meeting has been long delayed, so we left it for an age
Thus yearning makes the day seem a month

2. Our promised time has been long between us, and we forgot
That in our age of hardship there is also ease

3. We dreamed, so dreaming bore patience
And we were patient, so patience bore gratitude

4. The face of death has appeared, and whoever travels by night
Must inevitably encounter dawn

5. One came on the ship who scarcely fit it
Yet the starry dome of heaven is more encompassing

6. It is no wonder if a ship bears the sea
But wondrous that a ship can bear the ocean

7. He is the sea of knowledge—one who plunges in
Will taste Euphrates' water and catch pearls

8. Knowledge kept hurling waves into his heart
While tranquility ebbed and flowed across his face

9. In his hands, the staff wherever cast
Sorcery there eagerly embraced its magic

10. Among his sheep the shepherd moves
While other intentions occupy his thoughts

11. Scholar, worker, poet, keen of mind
Writer, speaker—from the clouds he brings forth rain

12. His thoughts quickened the meadows till they overflowed
Lines poured from him whenever he composed a line

13. A pen that spurts ink onto the page
I see it squeezing wine from words

14. Poetry falls short of one who defeats poetry
Though clouds rained poetry on us

15. He knows our lack, so he forgives
And accepts our excuse, appeased

16. O you whose sermons have chapters
That soften even rock from pulpit lecterns

17. What orator of an age is reproached
If weighed against the excellent ancients?

18. Eulogy writhes to describe you, and verse calls out
Every line struggling to laud your virtues

19. That gaze I hoped for long ago
Until God fulfilled what was ordained

20. Life passed making excuses for vain hopes
While Time leaves no life unaltered

21. The dawn of old age shone on my temple
Though the darkness of youth had been more honest

22. An undesired guest, yet honoring him
Is worthier than seeking human comfort

23. From the far corners of the world to the Holy Sanctuary
God has drawn you here, O full moon taken captive

24. You have crossed so many stations
Resemblance speaks truly in calling you "full moon"

25. If you are late some time, do not forget
The final verses crown a poem's height

26. The premises of analogy came one by one
You were the conclusion when considered together

27. You surpass what I perceive, so in my view
Reports cannot wholly grasp the truth

28. This praise falls short of you, and my ambition falls short
Both complain of being confined and constrained

29. I am weak, deficient—one like me
Seeks from a journey's distance to shorten the way