1. Are you listening to the one imploring you,
O you to whom the first cries of distress are directed?

2. Listen to him, though he did not praise you, nor speak while he is devising,
O you whose beauties, when they shine,

3. Leave the heads of enemies eclipsed,
And whose schemes, when they are obscured,

4. Nearly wrench out the hearts of the obstinate,
And whose copious rain, when it pours down,

5. Restores the meadows, lush and grazed.
How can the age be excused in its vacillation

6. When youth swoons toward you and crumbles away?
The age knew by its testing

7. By which swords you are girded.
And it realized, when its hopes in you failed,

8. By which coats of mail you are armored,
You who have become, by your noble deeds,

9. Armor for it, though armor splits,
And you whose schemes have not ceased to be

10. A sword for it, though swords are blunted.
You fell whom you wish in battle when the brave join together,

11. On a day of calamity when chests collide.
Eulogy comes easily for others but

12. We have only seen it fitting for you.
And time showers you steadily with its bounty

13. While it is miserly toward all others.
And where is a Muthanna, happy of heart,

14. Among those who wished while their hearts ached?
Evil does not cease to be repelled from you

15. While a flood of good flows to you.
O master, we have not ceased, lacking your care,

16. To grope blindly when we missed the spring,
And we have not ceased, missing your provision,

17. To suckle desperately when we lacked suckling.
And he whom we have known to follow no precedent

18. In glory, but rather to continuously innovate,
And he whom we have known to be no innovator

19. In religion, but rather to continuously follow tradition.
May God protect you from us seeing you

20. Or your family abased after elevation!
Return to me, for rejection is not ugly

21. When at times you grant it, at times refrain.
Neither is a path whose dangers you fear,

22. So at times you take it, at times hold back.
One who returns to nobility after initiating it

23. Benefits his brothers and benefits himself.
But one who initiates nobility with no return

24. Mocks his generosity and takes it back.
If you were one who loved his wealth

25. Or were one whose determination was unshakable,
We would excuse you in delaying it,

26. But the excuse of the generous one is cut off.
One like me has not held back while the situation demands it

27. And the breast is expansive and the face cheerful.
Do not deprive me of a gift already granted

28. Which hands knock to receive!
O you whom I see pleased to take refuge

29. If one says “Which of the men will shelter me?”
Refresh me and you will find me pleased to manufacture

30. If you say “Which of the men will make?”
How many questioners about your generosity have I told

31. “Deceived by the question, deceived!”
And questioners about your pilgrimage, I have told them

32. “Empty your money bags and rise up!”
And questioners about your praise, I have told them

33. “Time will never tire of hearing it!”
Yet all of them in their questioning

34. Were blind to the dawn though it cracked through.
They try to illuminate the dawn with lamps,

35. But no lamp is needed when the dawn breaks!
You have remained, as long as you live, a sorrow

36. To the enemy, where he cannot snatch you away.
You seize the high ground and pardon when you are able -

37. Not cautious, but caution itself!
How ugly is my brother's blame

38. And the fault of one whose fault he exaggerated!
You did not promise me anything - but the wish you promised

39. And the free man is anguished when his apparition deserts him.
When did you make excuses? Or when did the cessation

40. Of fateful tumult please you?
Are you not the one who ceaselessly

41. Takes on the lofty their burdens, and shoulders them?
The despairing hope for your good when

42. No other's tempting good gives hope,
And the aloof acknowledge your superiority when

43. No other's greedy superior seeks acknowledgement.
And he who acknowledges it is haughty over him when

44. He meets a miser whose cheeks are grimy.
The righteous are divided into factions

45. While in you alone they come together.
Yes, yes! You, you! Do not, do not!

46. Let an arbitrary phrase cut you off from perfection!
O you who remembers the sheep when they yearn,

47. And remembers sustenance when it is planted!
Occupy my discerning self with your open-handedness,

48. For time has fallen in love with me.
And salvation from it is time to end

49. The helplessness, and there is no salvation when it swallows.
Abu al-Hussein, be moved! For you are not

50. The settler in a place, or natural.
Let a beautiful garment of excellent

51. Obedience unfold from you, with no objection and no anguish.
You who invited me to wealth, a trace

52. Of the stamp of generosity is stamped on it.
I testify that I believed you a brother

53. Whom opinion did not fool in deception.
Enamored of the heights, a brother of passion

54. Who woos their maidens and savors them.
Joking with generosity, not foolishness, for if he

55. Is serious, it is pleasurable, with a firm pact.
You have not ceased to permit me

56. Generosity and the ear of glory, and which beauty can match it?
You pave the way for my request for a while,

57. Then pave the way for my resting place so I may rest.
Take it, like the deafness of rocks I have torn away

58. From a lofty mountain so they tore away!
Your glory, from which that authentic star branched out,

59. Is too lofty for the star.
And whoever denies what I say about you -

60. Rebuke him with Moses of rugged terrain!
Finally, may you be safe from the times,

61. And may the hand of evil be repelled from you forever.