1. What good are meadows with no spring rain,
Hastening growth before the mind is ready.

2. What good are rhymes when my muse has ceased,
No verse comes easily from the downcast bard.

3. The page lies fallow though my hand holds the quill,
This charity of mine has faded and lies forgotten.

4. The blossoms of poetry have withered.
Now my thoughts run dry like a wasted wadi.

5. It's as if I never founded a hall of arts,
Never raced horses in the arena as a youth.

6. I've locked the door of my library to all petitioners,
Though I dwell now in Andalusia, that former glory.

7. Full of bile are those whose pots boil over,
Lighting for us a fire to kindle our own passions.

8. Seeing my reputation, though I'm not pretentious,
They try to breach the fortress I still keep defended.

9. A fortress guarded by one of noble soul,
Whether provoked like a cobra or pouncing like a leopard.

10. Well-spoken, if eloquence demands, his words flow
Rapidly, smoothly, perfectly, and with delight.

11. Of necklaces, it's the gems that shine brightest.
Of poems, it's the subtlety that glows most splendid.

12. More wondrous than any silver-tongued orator,
Measured beside him, their boasts seem only empty chatter.

13. But most strange is my station between the jealous
And the sincere - though silent, their hearts have volumes unspoken.

14. Some, when I'm absent, say things to suit themselves,
Yet in my presence they bow their heads, broken and bent.

15. My crime, in their eyes, is my rising fortune
That catches them unawares, like birds snared in the night.

16. But I'm like pure rainwater from the heavens,
Stainless and cool, though some may try to sully my name.

17. No harm if they'd only grant a man his due -
One who has lost sleep, exiled, wandering ceaselessly.

18. Don't they know, if I wished, I could shame them all
With revelations, though seen by none but the mute?

19. Seduce each maiden, dark-eyed and blameless,
Make her surrender to me her promised husband.

20. Tempt every slender-waisted girl from her virtue,
Lead back to me those whose hopes have all faded.

21. But my faith has forbidden the unclean to me,
So I shall not speak of the unclean in my verses.