1. He repeats his lament of the phantom he was accustomed to,
Whether you sought righteousness or misguidance and perdition.

2. The whiteness of dawn afflicted me while it was awaiting,
The blackness of night had receded from it or was about to.

3. What crossroads did not evoke sorrow,
And what gathering was not for separation appointed?

4. You twisted my heart, and it is the lover's way, when
He is fettered to something, for his heart to be led.

5. The maidens hope for my frustration, while in my liver
Is a fire that increases with quenching, kindling.

6. It is not our right that Sulayma should deny us
Generosity with stinginess, or degrade with disdain.

7. Your departure from her on Saturday morning
Announced an intention - and the most painful abandonment has departed.

8. The days of separation were eighty - so they became
Saturdays we feared and singular days.

9. A man's evidence is days counted for him
To show him rectitude, guide and direct him.

10. And they might demand what they had given before
Of bounty, and detract from the surplus he had gained,

11. Until the newly purchased creature returns to its nature
Languishing to the eye, and the companions spurn it.

12. You asked excessively about the ruins of Egypt, but you will never
Find Thamud in their valley, nor `Aad.

13. I did not see the likes of al-Radda a beloved, and it sufficed them,
Nor the hosts of Banu Lakhm's cavalry.

14. Since the time when the turn of fortune suspended them
And did not achieve from us what it sought, nor avail.

15. God raised Ali above them during their tilting runs,
He schemed against us, and the party that schemed.

16. He continues to act while the divine decrees assist him
To reap with the sword, and harvest skulls.

17. Our zeal cannot be borrowed from his cold temper
If the red hides the enemies or appears.

18. They meet him at the height of the battle, his guard
Flashing lightning at the height and rumbling thunder.

19. The sons of Hussein are the age's treasures of generosity
That time does not inherit - it cannot drain them.

20. Repeated throughout the days in qualities
That have made them the chosen ones, and forefathers.

21. Unique ones of greatness, who accept no partners, and indeed
Swords are called unique among blades.

22. If the cheap company vie in meanness,
They come with the spring rain, open-handed.

23. Encamped on the plain of Iraq, their efforts refused
Anything but loftiness and support.

24. They chose the land before the people, or did they inhabit
Alongside the advance guards that land, steadfast?

25. It becomes a plain for them at night, pleased by its expanse,
And in the morning they become its tent pegs with honor.

26. They disdain the plain of Nahrawan when
The clouds are stingy in pouring out their torrents.

27. They won the most spacious abode, with arches,
An ancient kingdom from it, of oldest founding.

28. We will not fail to praise the one whom we peculiarly
Thank and praise - their father Muhammad.

29. Of their nobility, kindly and most seated in merit,
And greatest in aiding in confidence.

30. Your seeking of good, aiming for good, satisfies you,
Everlasting, aspiring to the most high, perpetual.

31. The distance of your monastery does not prevent us
From hailing you from Baghdad, time after time.

32. We renew a pact with the most faithful of chosen friends,
And most upright of people, whether covenants or violates agreements.

33. I must join the two extremes - your gifts -
When the lesser has already been surpassed by the giver.

34. Do not look to al-Fayyad as small
In years, but look to the glory he built.

35. The stars are the stars of night - the smallest
Is most luminous in the sky, soaring.

36. We have intimate knowledge of your favors whose lengthening
Makes double over the turns of fate and its counts.

37. The sea's surge - if its immensity wanes -
Has watered you copiously, and if it repeats, repeats.

38. And how many glories of children have surpassed
Their famous fathers, witnesses, proofs!

39. You are the sheltering wings in needs - we seek them,
But you are not dependent in benefaction, closefisted.

40. Three hasten assured success, though it tarries,
If they ally in it as supporters and buttresses.