1. Sleepless I remain yearning for him and contending,
With thoughts from my soul nearly undone by his absence.

2. Not for lack of will did Baghdad restrain our resolve -
But for the beloved we concealed, and his hold over us.

3. We set the Euphrates toward our people's abode
As guide, though we strayed from the path unless we clung to it.

4. When our steeds were slowed by the glut of his gifts,
They rivaled the wadi’s beasts in their gorging.

5. How many a mountain we scaled and desert we roamed,
And valley we crossed through its flattened expanse.

6. When from Sinjar we gazed out, overlooking
Mosul, so close its features seemed within grasp.

7. Still we pressed on, from dusk to dawn’s first light,
Ushering darkness away, enveloped in its folds.

8. Until nearness obeyed, after holding aloof,
And the Hayy's ridge yielded, after resisting.

9. So ask not after where I lay down my head,
In my own land, or how I sleep while debarred from it.

10. I pine while my family awaits me expectant,
Hearing and sight set on my return.

11. An exile abroad, my steed wanders unleashed
Through Sajur's valleys or over its hillocks.

12. Parted from those I left behind, my life now bereft,
My honor resides with them, their refuge in tribulation.

13. No yearning for home overcame my resolve
To provide for it, by dwelling in its environs.

14. Too grave seemed the hardship of living apart -
Even the thought drew tears of lament from me.

15. Take on the great task with purpose and cease not
To water the thirsty from outpouring's abundance.

16. The world entire cannot overwhelm him,
So expansive the field of his capabilities.

17. How many days of ill fate for God's servants
Were lit up by his leadership's radiance!

18. How they searched in him for the nature of nobility,
Bringing low the age through his towering grace.

19. Ask the ministers about his precedence,
And how he was missed when gone from their midst.

20. Did they ever truly weigh his full measure,
Or value his worth by the gauge of his greatness?

21. A chief whose vision opened solutions when affairs were blocked,
And brought concord when ties were ruptured.

22. His judgment surpassed the mind's reach, beyond grasp
In remoteness and loftiness when viewed from afar.

23. He drew near until even the abyss was tempted
To self-deception, cloaked in guile.

24. Never did I see him refuse humility when embraced
By any man, except from excess of modesty.

25. While he is occupied, time's turns go neglected,
And tribulations wane in the scope of his care.

26. The burdens of authority know they are sustained
When borne by him, though weigh heavily.

27. No ordeal befell him, but its edge was dulled -
Its breadth no rival for his greater expanse.

28. God protect him in whom the flock find solace,
Relying on his care over their own.

29. I roamed the Iraq in distress, a criminal,
To defend against the day we would part.

30. Can you forget me after the horror, and then its passing;
After loathing befell, and then its abating?

31. After bonds were affirmed by my father al-Fatḥ, he took
My land, annexing it to swell his holdings.

32. That day he envied not my wealth, but rather
A free man seized what would profit him.

33. If so, God forsake my circuits around his abode,
And the throngs by the Kaaba, gathered for pilgrimage.

34. And my nights keeping vigil at Ṭumayn, prayers uttered
To ward the foe, clashing with them in war.

35. By God, after the nightmare subsided, my soul entertained no thought
Of any blessing but you, no yearning but to follow.

36. Had I from you a single day, for all time itself,
I'd ruminate an age before seeking its return.