1. The specter of imagination afflicted me, surrendering,
And so I recalled him in intense longing unabated,

2. It afflicted me as the dawn revealed its army,
And the armies of night prepared to retreat and withdraw.

3. So after sleep, thoughts of him kept me awake,
While a bird on the highest branch of a lofty tree sang melodiously.

4. May God watch over the independent riders at dawn,
As they headed with their stallions towards brilliant encampments.

5. For lovers, no guarantor remains for their burning passions
In their absence, except one enamored who passed the night sleepless.

6. In the red sand dune a slain gazelle lies,
Quenching my thirst when we meet, with its spilled blood.

7. I intended to forget his love, but my eyes' tears
Spoke, against my will, of passion and declared it openly.

8. And of a chronic malady I treated with remedies,
Which when potent, make me forget my shackles and fetters.

9. I donned the cloak of darkness in the night, and at dawn,
Dust stirred up by the blowing wind obscuring all in gloom.

10. And I said to pouring rain whose water flooded the land,
"Bedeck yourself with light, and spread far and wide."

11. The hand of the righteous servant is mightiest when beseeched,
Most generous in giving and amplest in gains.

12. A king whose face's light illuminated the night,
And whose fair deeds, when it had been utterly dark.

13. His nature is to grant favors, so you'll never see,
In a land where he dwells, a single person deprived.

14. When you greet him, you'll see the full moon rising,
And if you fight him, a lion pouncing forth.

15. I find you never cease to bestow favors upon all enemies and friends alike,
So how many battles where you showed yourself noble,

16. Then left the foe masked in his blood.
You turned daylight to night with spears' darkness,

17. And in it, with swords you made stars shine.
You remained in it, scattering decorative prose,

18. And you passed the night arranging piercing verse.
You stripped the foe of their raiment and lives,

19. Dressing them in a smooth garment of blood.
You ascended to a place where the stars fall below you,

20. And brought down to your hands whatever they contain of bounty.
Thus the light of the sun draws near from every spot on earth,

21. While it is in the middle of the sky.
By your resolve, justice took flight east and west,

22. And became eminent in the highest parts of the land.
You opened for divine inspirations when you shunned worldly vanities,

23. So the Divine expressed thanks for what had been incomprehensible.
And you erected in Alexandria a structure,

24. By which that blessed place became a clear sign.
Within it you brought together the pride of imams,

25. So by their assembly the glory of the sublime became complete.
By teaching lessons therein, the foundation is demolished

26. Of what the unbelievers establish.
Through it and through you, God left no unbeliever,

27. Until they became, through God's grace, Muslim.
O you, the preserver of knowledge, who climbed

28. High towards the Divine in bygone times.
Is not the full moon but yourself on its night of perfection?

29. Is not the sea but yourself at the hour its waves surge?
The silent month welcomed you eagerly,

30. Almost speaking, so keen was it to meet you.
From my thoughts, I will carry to you poems

31. That show you from words a glistening bracelet.
They surpass, as time passes, what is new in their novelty,

32. Diffusing for eyes a radiance, glittering and shimmering.
For you remain in the glory and loftiness of the eminent ones,

33. Wherein life is but to live blameless and safe.