1. Greetings that tell of the stringing of gems on a thread,
And the fragrance of perfumes wafting like musk,

2. Shining upon these landmarks like the rising
Of a full moon beaming through the gloom of night.

3. It protected the honor of the fragrant abode,
A resting place for wayfarers of piety.

4. How its environs diffused spirit after spirit,
As the morning breeze recounted its perfume.

5. How much of its sweetest scent it carried,
Scent that breathes life into breath and penetration.

6. It bid me greet a master, at whose absence
My eyes shed tears of blood in lamentation.

7.
So from my tears an immense, swelling sea,

8. And my soul in it flows like a ship.
I wondered at the sea of tears, turbulent,

9. And the fire of passion, quenched not, but fanned.

10. So my heart, without solace, sanctified his abode,
Became a city of love, and he the Meccan youth.

11. He is the servant of the Merciful in all the realm,
Though apart from Him, a servant of the King.

12.
Thus my longings pull their reins toward him,

13. Rending my soul in the straitness of anguish.
For him is the path of piety, a way to guidance,

14. He was not misguided; in character he was refined.

15. For him, in the path of love, raging battles
With a soul that now lies ruined in perdition.

16. I am annihilated, while the spirit resides in piety,
And he who says other than this, has come with slander.

17.
Inform me of the delicate ones when passion departed,

18. Adorning themselves in the mold of composure.
So say to his peers of noble temperament,

19. “Come, assay the touchstone of virtues by proof.”

20. You will find him a son of the ingot of perfection, not
Of the falsity of tin in the ways of fraud.

21. From Ibn Abi al-Dunya is related the report of excellence,
A chain linked to another, certainly without doubt.

22.
His fame for praise, eulogy and tribute

23. Is as renowned among people as a weeping cloud.
To you my apology for my weakness and failings

24. In praise‐not from any disdain or neglect of you.

25. But the manifestation of Glorious God
Spread where despair gripped Arab and non-Arab.