1. You show me the one whose magic you told me of
With a glance of ailing, wondering eyes

2. And you laugh at a string of pearls
I see your tears of youth like scattered pearls

3. Is there some saffron on her cheek from the wine
Or has the intoxication of wine ignited her cheek?

4. She lingered in estrangement, though it surpassed her
And a specter of her went to meet her with ease

5. So much joy in the darkness at meeting her
And sadness at being far from her at dawn

6. When the night gives us some union
The harbingers of dawn incline us to separation

7. I do not forget how worries draw near
And visit after calm, though she knows not

8. I take her by the arms and her side inclines
With the softness of arms, truth worn away

9. An embrace that slakes my passion, and it is false
If it were true, it would heal the heartache

10. Your care, O Commander of the Faithful, suffices
Against enemies as a sign of remembrance

11. The crescent came to you auspiciously, so blessings upon you
In every state, of crescent or month

12. It came to you, by the openings granted your patron, heralding
The greatest blessings that compelled the greatest thanks

13. By what the months held of victorious authority
And what the horses of the son of the Khagan did in Egypt

14. And the retreat of ‘Abdus when the Indian swords
And brown spears roared against him

15. If the abode of Thamud was a refuge, then to his people
It became like an unmarriageable girl yesterday

16. With a piercing, deadly stab in the throats
Dropping them violently with blows to the head

17. You see only severed heads
Severed neatly by the loyal followers or blood flowing

18. Nor did the accursed one’s fortress, which
He thought a shelter from the blows of fate, protect him

19. He went in the dark night, the horses behind him
Like the pleats of a lined and corded quiver

20. Al-Mufllih accomplished his pursuit
Leaving me only to accomplish this poetry

21. The people of war and injustice will bring him
Captive or his head, in relentless pursuit

22. Valiant men from among your loyalists
Have strengthened the bonds of religion and refuted the powers of unbelief

23. When they conquer a land, they ready
Battalions that rout your enemies in rout

24. In the East success for Musa and al-Mufllih
In the West, aid hoped for Abu Nasr

25. Indeed, the mention of him shook spacious Syria
And disturbed the inhabitants of the peninsula with dread

26. May the Commander of the Faithful live blessed with a blessing
That redoubles what empowered you in your life

27. And you have filled Abd Allah, truly his generosity
Is the pouring rain in its abundance, and the brother of rain

28. When we send him poetry, his noble acts
Nurturing to poetry, are multiplied

29. Things accrue to him through many means
And needs are met by the most modest means

30. I gained nothing from the excellence of his father and grandfather
And what they raised for me of glory and mention

31. And my homeland in Syria adjoined his
For wealth is naught but adjoining the sea

32. I have an undefeated argument in which I found
No way to the brilliant moon and the deep-diving hunter

33. I appealed to him through the Imam, but truly
I appealed through the sun, hoping for the moon

34. I saw no one appealed to him, nor an intercessor,
To match them in the utmost glory and pride

35. So he acted with the generosity of the noble
And spoke with the authority of the obeyed

36. Live in safety however many nights pass
As the late hours of an age recur in a new age