1. To the spring of tears, grant grace, O nightcomets,
And yearnings' gifts amid its thickets interlaced,

2. Else turn to it one glance wherein you marvel
At what in it there lies or heed it not, O wondrous-face!

3. You barred the way and love still leads its foray on -
You built and longing's track still leads the horse's tramp.

4. No shame that I despair, that I your estrangement shun
In utter woe, though love for you holds sovereign camp.

5. Nor did I fear that my desire should be 
To seek you out or press on you my suits.
But O the horses' faces and their neighings loud

6. That break like pools amid the gloomy ranks' descent!
And O the dragon East's awakening, when it rose

7. And kindled flames in West's remotest earthly tent!
And O the stillness of the day for Ahmed's son

8. When from Byzantium rumours reached between Safa and Marwah hills!
That rallying cry for one resigned was made, though he

9. The raiment wore of warriors and armed multitudes.
An open breast whose depths none dared attempt,

10. Though destiny has made him loneliness his mate.
He hastened on till those who saw the fray exclaimed,

11. "A meeting this of foes or meeting of beloved friends?"
While we in shadows cheered him, and his will was set

12. On Kostantiniya city from all sides to ring,
Till not the blind road thither was by easing paved,

13. Nor were the straits with flooding rain-pools glistening,
A lightning-flash within his hands he bent

14. On chieftains' heads, as rain-clouds bend in fivefold train,
Until its dripping dew well-nigh poured down

15. On enemies, what time the sword curved in its sheath again,
And ships alongside with their fluttering flags - but O

16. Ibn Hubayra on the day when Ibn 'Umar came, forbid
Religion for a day whose frown made prominent each brow,

17. And snapped the torrent's neck that headlong came to open wide
A cave in Lu'ayy ibn Ghalib's stony height;

18. And O how Amr strode in Ibn Ghanam ibn Taghlib's place
With Ibn Wahb's stride on Rum's back planted firm

19. Those the first years gave I made to drink a draft
Whose bitterness expelled the wronged man's choking sighs

20. And saved him from the blades that danced like lightning in the skies.
You vaunted, "Are we not the like of you 
And you the like of us, no difference in the affair?"

21. But for you the winds bear dearth and for us winds
Of bounty from the north and south blow fair,

22. Yet all the favour you Mohammed's hands denied
Was as the rain stars spill on steppe-lands dry.

23. And who can equal him you scorn when clouds
Unburden freely gifts only the rain-clouds vouchsafe?

24. Beneath his shade how could you fail to find
The wished-for boon, the seeker's utmost want?

25. You visited him when the vale was filled, yet nothing strange
Was in his flood for you, though bounty gushed from every side,

26. While from you was his servant veiled, conspicuous,
Eyeing you eye to eye from over barrier none.

27. He came to you each morn inscribing his own soul
While his grace every morn inscribed a thousand souls.

28. From those dark faces it had stripped the gloom
And poured on those pale palms refreshing wholesome rains,

29. Yes, and a sword whose limit none can pass
Nor antagonist defeat nor tyrannous tyrant's might.

30. You spurn him, yet the choice is not yours to make
And what you wish is that these wishes failed their goal.

31. God's hand was over you when from your hands
Came what the slanderous thoughts had falsely told.

32. So did he come, the daybreak clearing away
The mists of enmity from gentle smooth-cheeked morn,

33. His guidance shedding purity, his lofty thought -
The calm of vanquished souls, the victor's settling dust.

34. For you he sought forgiveness when he saw
Your sins were heavier than the heavy lowering clouds,

35. Nor asked of you the penalties those claws exact
That tear the honour of the honour-guarding man.

36. What provocation his resentment knew belonged
To one resentful shown, to him who counsel sought,

37. But in his pardon, did you know its consequence,
'Twould shake your souls, had he not chosen to pardon.

38. And had his cavalry but trampled you in wrath
You would have been as powder on the crumbling hills.

39. I gave you counsel if for counsel there was room
In ears that hear not from the hearing-place exiled.

40. Herald of him for you, herald through him of you,
Though for these twain no lying herald I profess.

41. Ask him for war, free-handed, he permits,
Counting that war will bring some gain, some interest.

42. Horseman who mounts occasion's back - then should he tire
Of you, a course he'll take of changing ways untired.

43. He walked for you the walk of him who limps along
While you from ignorance crawls like the creeping worm.

44. To the crafty foe, had guile been not his gift,
His trials had sufficed. He knows what consequences hide

45. If his opinion hold - through excellence he knows
What in the consequences lurks. 
He hones his mind's deceits

46. And whets its wiles through the live long night, to shear
Like lightning-flashes or the shooting stars' descent.

47. We met the moon's crescent by Buṭḥah fortunate
With Abu Sa'id, and time's caprice no fixed estate.

48. We tightened firm the cords of every hope and thought
To one unfailing in his aid, a generous friend,

49. Who poetry's straying herd brought home together again
Though poetry - fantastic mysteries its signs -

50. Had wandered in strange themes. So we were confident
Its rhymes were pathways to the highest goals.