1. My friend who is the brother of affliction weeps when alone,
His heart burning with passion, not indifference,

2. And what affliction is like the whiteness that appeared,
And what loss is like the darkness that vanished.

3. My friend, I lament the passing of an era with my companion,
Whose nights quenched me with pure, limpid water,

4. Only to be replaced by a contemptible substitute,
Whose nights gave me bitter, fetid water to drink.

5. In your life together, do not overly blame the excessive fault-finder,
Cursing an era that has oppressed and been harsh.

6. The motto of the noble youth is to blame the present time,
And praise the time that has passed.

7. Why not, when the future holds a brother of life to embrace,
And the past holds a brother of life to be content with.

8. Neither youth nor old age remain constant for the youth,
Except in vicissitude and passing away.

9. Night and day swore that if they built,
Together they would demolish and destroy it.

10. The days of joy that enraptured hearts have passed,
So shed tears for it that pour down.

11. I see my love has abandoned and rejected me,
Yet it is right that one with white hair be blamed and spurned.

12. Still he never ceased, with his white head bowed,
Devoted to passion, with an unbroken vow.

13. He meets the foolish youth, bedazzled,
If he wishes, drawing near a tender branch or shedding leaves.

14. That is how victorious armies are with their black uniforms,
Yet they meet him defeated when he dons white.

15. Far apart are the differences between youth and its opposite -
The youth of the noble one prays when old age moans.

16. This repels all acquired gain,
While that hunts any prey exposed.

17. My lifetime was sweetened by youth,
But when old age whitened my head, it was embittered.

18. It was as if I had a youth that was stolen from me,
Leaving me deprived of it from time past.

19. I will praise the virtues of my youth,
My tongue occupied with it until I breathe my last.

20. And I will be preoccupied and tempted by henna, nursing,
A sick youth who deserves to be nursed.

21. I swear I see nothing left of my youth
Except a remainder, a substitute that replaces it.

22. One's person - his youth is renewed bounty,
Even if my old age urges me to youth, and so I yield.

23. A youth who, since he reached fourteen,
Was agreeable to every venerable and sheltered one.

24. If God had tried the seas with his generosity,
They would have overflowed with his gifts.

25. If his right hand had touched barren rocks,
They would have streamed forth with water bursting out.

26. And if he was compliant to the Sultan's rugged, difficult task,
Let alone being a tender tamer and trainer to him.

27. Whenever an unsheathed sword rebelled, he swung at it,
And the sword is made to clang against a sword.

28. Far better than the garden of spring in character
Is he when spring's blossoms wither and are gone.

29. When people slander a man,
They become humbled at his door.

30. O Qasim, O you who generosity shares his wealth,
Confirm sincerity and affection absolutely pure!

31. Did you not see me willingly lending you affection?
Never before have you seen me refuse to lend to one in need.

32. Yet no sooner had I shone before being told, in the shade of disfavor,
I had become an object of condemnation exposed.

33. Why did you not belie who said 'he fails,'
Shaking his head at my hopes in you in rejection?

34. When people spread that you had imprisoned me
And I did not arm myself with consent's armor,

35. Then I was afflicted with some of what those who yielded accepted,
Is it yours to erase this doubt entirely?

36. That is only fitting for you,
Even if my gratitude cannot match your blessings, rising up.

37. By my life, you portrayed a shining bright white,
Why do you not show me the face of your favors white?

38. I seek refuge for the softness of your palms from ever being fettered
By stubbornness, and from the time of enmity that has passed.

39. Remember praise which if I shook just an iota of it,
It would make the firmly rooted violently quake.

40. My love gives birth every day and night
To this, a heart that does not cease being in labor.

41. And I met you shaken by it as if
I had met you emboldened against me, incited.

42. Lost is he who became hateful to you,
Spending his evenings hating your enemies.

43. Misfortune, poverty, and misery surrounded him,
And with one, how many a heart was softened and blinked away tears!

44. Yet I was not hated by people of piety,
Nor despised among the generous.

45. My heart was almost ripped out by your abandonment,
But I subdued the violent outburst within.

46. Why not, when you emboldened every deceitful one against me,
So each one's sword was unleashed against me.

47. And you weakened my pillar against the enemies, leaving me
To those who sought to injure me, a bone crushed.

48. I used to suppress the enemies before you,
When the hissing serpent would hiss one day.

49. They used to plot harms, but became
Each schemer rushing into folly confused.

50. So I was forced to beware of them
When, had you supported me, it would not have been imposed.

51. My master - one despairing of life cried for help,
And the east shone and was cured - then became sick again!

52. Were it not for my conviction that you are all goodness,
I would have bid farewell - God ordain what He ordains.

53. Though circles turn against me,
I will turn away from those who turned from me.

54. I remain pure when provisions become foul through malice,
And a connoisseur when the water becomes bitter.

55. Wondrous that I unleashed my tongue upon you
In captivity - though it remains restrained.

56. Were it not for hope in you, alive,
My veins would not have stirred, nor been eased of fear.

57. Rather, the beastly stranger - my fearing you after
You became a rescuer for the frightened weak!

58. Closer than delaying rain is its downpour,
Even if the rain returns the thunder and lightens.

59. Wondrous that I demanded you fulfill me
When your face is more deserving to endure and seek fulfillment!

60. I looked - had you empowered me with what you possess,
I would not have been compensated from that meeting.

61. Wondrous that I prolong my reproach against you
When you have become the chosen among people!

62. I wronged you with complaint while you gave me life
And clothed me in the garment of life loose-fitting.

63. How often did I brandish the sword's edge against you tyrannically
Yet your palm did not detach and strike me down!

64. Out of shyness, forbearance, and rising above
What would have produced enmity, a crop harvested.

65. To a master who often overlooked and closed his eyes.
I will surrender all my affairs to your custody,

66. And the like of me to justice like yours delegates.
Still your gaze ascends the heights from you

67. If you wish, it may come from you, lowered modestly.
Below you - from a poet thankful to you

68. Though he agitated the noble and pure tents.
Able - if he wishes clarity, he attains it,

69. And if precision, he refines and makes obscure.
If his path is desolation, he sees in you a caring shepherd

70. Seeing clearly what he must watch closely and directly.
And if his path is hopes, he sees in you a rain cloud

71. Offering its blessing, and bursting forth.
No merit increases in you by praise gaining prominence,

72. Rather, it is like musk encountering one who kneads.
For you - remembrance, the only purity, all of it,

73. If a mouth one day murmurs it in ablution.
When mouths are devoid due to ignorant base praise,

74. They do not become adorned through praising you.
You who are all purity when the ignorant chatter,

75. As if a mouth murmuring your name gargled.