1. The four abodes of Aqeeq and its houses became desolate
For a companion whose early departure saddened them

2. Those burdens seemed heavy when in them appeared
A gentle, delicate and cheerful lad

3. The strongest that makes the healthy sick is
The sickness of the loving glance and its languor

4. And the hours of estrangement melt my entrails
With burning embers in my ribs that smolder

5. The phantom of my beloved does not cease to send him to me
Though his mirage is deceptive and vain

6. I visit him in dreams and ask, does my
Image disturb his sleep or do I visit him?

7. Why does this love make its captive not avoidable
And ardent youth makes its imperative shameless?

8. It increases lightning to awaken my yearning
Its turmoil in flashing or its excuse

9. The utmost longing afflicts the ardent lover
Either by his shortness of longing or his failure

10. He who ordered me to be patient did not know
That I have a way in love I do not deviate from

11. The diffusion of passion has brought sadness, so will
Its joy ever be exchanged with us for happiness?

12. Small fortunes grow with the days
Until their greater ones come from them

13. I said to the king that it may be better
Than the beginning of what is hoped for its end

14. May this prince whom God has favored
With long survival satisfy his ruler

15. That he may deliver on behalf of the obeyed
One whose falling short of purpose was not our experience of him

16. He reformed Damascus after long corruption
A lion whose roar protected Damascus

17. None can resemble him, so how can there exist
Or ever be struck his like one day?

18. When the Father of the Army goes out to the army
Resolution continues bitter among them

19. Only the darkness of night was revealed
That extinguished the shining stars with its light

20. Evident in the gloom of calamities and destined
To darken the clouds, however beautiful his patience

21. The enemies avoid the assault of a raging lion
Whose blood has made his claws victorious

22. How many hostile men did the swords of steadfast men frighten
Whose swords the sedentary made fly!

23. If I task him with a need he does not neglect
His earnestness for it nor its undertaking

24. Or burden him with heavy taxes from me
He wraps up their great and small in his capacity

25. Abu Al-Sakr is indeed the minister of the Sultan's command
And his vizier in the majesty of his affair

26. Preserver of the kingdom lest its pillars be removed
And its guardian lest its affairs be undermined

27. Aided in arms, the make of the coat of mail
Boasts over him, compact and linked

28. His hands do not cease, warding off the gleaming swords
And the management of his command is bountiful

29. When allies unite to support an ally
Their union necessitates that their supporter prevails

30. So whether his absence is in the battlegrounds of enemies
His absence and presence are equal

31. It is the way of the noble that his elevation ceases
And so it is the course of time that its months pass

32. Whether he promises, success is soon to come
And whether he delays, his promise and conscience are equal

33. Every day we visit his two abodes
Seeking from around a treasure of elevation

34. The palms of his hands poured down gifts
And for those who sought them, their oceans overflowed

35. In order for your overflowing charity to gush
Even if the collection of dew and its abundance sufficed

36. He does not exceed in accuracy, success
And good opinion and Hussein is his vizier

37. He who seldom visits is informed that ambitions
Are not what he pictures

38. And if you have been earnest in your frequent visits
Then I spread the mention of what you have generously given

39. Do not commit against your giving to choose
That which in its occurrence you would withhold

40. He is sincere in striving and adequacy until
His affairs remained protected through him

41. He combines wisdom, advice and success
In the opinion of an advisor whom he consults

42. I am not one who probes the essences of roads
Preferring for another to journey them

43. And around dawn my conveyance is challenged
To Manbij, and its camel train travels