1. His passion grows intense in youth's delirium,
As if what provokes him also lures him on.

2. When patience would restrain him he is distraught
With the anguished grief of one bereft of hope.

3. He was forbidden but if he had obeyed
A passion contests with his graying locks.

4. How short the springtide of youth's heyday is
Before the omens of gray hairs appear!

5. And for the hapless, anguish is increased
By a scoffing fool, a vaunting impudent one.

6. A lightning flash at Salma startles me—
Its fluttering and brilliance make me yearn.

7. And many a sport and jest were being made
By the merry throng at Salma's spring.

8. Perchance to gain there a new friend; but no!
His mawkish appetite is satiated.

9. Indolence makes demands upon his will
Too slight to satisfy his wants.

10. He seeks the coveted till the defiant
Returns repentant, obedient to you.

11. The Nile is a debt to be stolen from it;
So seek from its keeper where you may find it.

12. And I see the riders unsaddled at night
In Samarra, doffing their coats of mail,

13. Seeking in Springtide at Rabī'ah's abode
The glory its meadows displayed.

14. Green nearly fills your hands through your bounty
Which you bestow and ever originate.

15. Gone are his virtues into begging,
Now he intimidates and tracks them down.

16. He shuns the miser's choices and spurns
Out of ambition those who spurn him.

17. His delusions have revealed his truth:
Autumn's bargaining has exposed him naked.

18. A single man, though aided by his clan,
Bound by kinship and its partisans,

19. You dread the hostile hordes when massed,
And torrents, when tumultuously amassed.

20. You see how enemies are distracted by
Naught but fantasies of where you stand exposed.

21. How many a noble's son has been misled
By a father whose guidance would debase him!

22. If you want to reclaim his fee complete
Seek it judiciously, wrest it from him.

23. Look carefully for a stray gazelle
To know where the glow of twilight lures her.

24. His features have endowed him with nobility
High above the range of things that fall.

25. A sword—if its steel retains its purity
Will have an excellent temper never flawed.

26. Those who appraise men point toward
A moon, though many of them are moons.

27. Dazzling to their eyes is a vision that
Excites the eager quest of any who hear it.

28. His handsome deeds succeed his promises,
As the crescent succeeds the moon's white halo.

29. Why should I fear, commanding a thousand,
The delay of one whom his burden does not strain?

30. And but for you, O best of noble lords,
Most high, most open-handed, who requites me,

31. I have no wish for your bounty, no
Favor of yours sought out presumptuously.

32. A flashing cheek patch adds a trifle
To take the place of a missing molar.

33. A wealthy man whose means are a lean source
Of glory, for all his heaps will vie for them.

34. The bitter sea denies its drinker
Access to drain it in a single draft.