1. I know the fire of passion burning in my heart,
O gazelle, between al-Muhajjar and al-Liwa!

2. Passion came to me from you, and thus
Was the kindling of that fire of passion.

3. She inclined towards moderation, and I said to her,
“Where is moderation? Is there really moderation in life?”

4. If I had known that eloquence lay with other than you,
I would have disliked to wander aimlessly.

5. In my love is a yearning that stays as though
It were a king seated on the throne of my heart.

6. I fed it my ardent heart, but it was not sated,
And I gave it my copious tears, but it was not quenched.

7. I used to think it was a guest come to lodge,
But lo! I am the guest having come to him for shelter.

8. And indeed I allowed it to brand my innermost being,
So it branded, but was not pleased until it roasted me.

9. And how often a specter visited me, and I found it
An affliction upon me, while I thought it a remedy,

10. And how often one came to me as a consoling friend relating tales,
Then left to bid farewell, wounding my powers.

11. Since his departure my eyes fear sleep,
“Do not worry, the writ has closed.”

12. It has preoccupied my heart from wooing pleasures -
A disposition which if my heart inclines towards, it twists.

13. To the verdant one are manners whose praise
Can almost make every withered wood grow green from it,

14. Its watering places are wholesome, delighting whoever sees,
And making happy whoever hears tell of it and relates it.

15. Say to him who boasts of an honor he has:
“This one to whom all nobility flocks and in whom it lodges...”

16. “...fulfilling the rights of religion and world together,
In public and in secret, equally.”

17. He is a pillar of the house of glory and its column around whom
Majesty alongside piety has lodged.

18. The intention of his heart was wrapped in sincerity,
And for every slave there is that which he intended with his Lord.

19. He prevailed over the lands and became the lord of a clan
Raised over the clans.

20. Iniquities cannot pass through his land,
Though they fly to it through the air.

21. O thunder in war! If its lightning bolts
Struck a mountain, it would topple.

22. From you a resounding repute has filled the hearing
And thunder pounds every hearing when it echoes.

23. Distance cannot veil his beauty
Like the dawn - no clouds can conceal its light.

24. O assembly of poets! Those are his traits
By which your friend does not go astray or wander confused.

25. I have spoken what I have seen and some
Of what I have heard - I have not spoken out of passion’s fancy.