1. I swore to her by God on the day we parted,
And by the passion in my heart attached to her,

2. And by the pact - little is lost to me -
Nor is the old pact to me violated,

3. And I confided to her my complaints that revealed my love,
And tears whose shedding testifies to truthful outpouring.

4. And yet I fear for her when slander springs up,
And I fear for her the slanderers and am wary,

5. And though she is sparing to me with her affection,
I find rest with her from the tormenting imagination.

6. I conjure you up when sleep is banished
And my words fall short of "I obey you" at the moment of speaking.

7. When will the coquette ever fulfill hopes?
Nor the heart escape from the coquette's bondage!

8. I used to refuse hoary swords on the day they met me
Where instead of hoary hair there was separation.

9. The coquette hindered me when my term was ending
And my words fell short of answering your "I obey you" at the moment of speaking.

10. If you want not to be hurt by fate in love,
Then fall in love on a live coal of agony.

11. Whenever I was far from the old encampment, I would mope
And whenever I moved away from the abode, I would yearn,

12. I roamed, above Damascus lofty,
Below us a mountain ridge like suspended clouds,

13. To bright Hira then Karkh, after I had decided
To leave my abode between Busra and Jilliq.

14. To my fortress, my honor, and my dwelling,
And to the goal of my nostalgia in love and my yearning,

15. The roofs of power whose faces
Are turned towards a perspective on the rippling Tigris,

16. As if the gardens there are clad all around
With veils of waving gossamer fabric,

17. When the breeze stirs their lights, exuding
Are their fragrances of slit musk,

18. As if the white domes and loose sun
Mock them with split halves of eggs,

19. And from balconies in the sky as if they are
Arriving white doves of flight wheeling round,

20. Encampments of Fath ibn Khāqān never ceased to be
Rich for the destitute or ransoming the captive,

21. So neither the fugitive seeking asylum with them
Nor the suitor repelled from them goes away vanquished.

22. There alights good fortune as if their giving
Follows in succession like rending clouds,

23. A gushing palm with generosity, copious,
And the unveiling of a face with brightness shining,

24. Their hands succeeded upon people, so
Every living soul in Syria and Iraq was satisfied.

25. How much spilled blood, permissible to shed,
Did they stem in the conquest,

26. And how many despairing souls in Hims
Did they rescue from death seizing by strangulation!

27. By them they resumed the freshness of life
And leaned upon the shade of a life reviving,

28. So thankfulness, O Banū Kalhān, to the Benefactor
Who secured for you the view of the rightly-guided Imam,

29. Turned from you the march of the caliphate after the gleaming
Of the dazzling meteors,

30. And white swords were bared, and the breasts
Of Khumayt and Ablaq were offered.

31. There, had he not cared for you, you would have been
Borne toward the breast of the routed Dhahami,

32. So do not ungratefully deny the blessings of a Benefactor
You were saved by them from the straitened bosom of dearth.

33. Return to Him with gratitude - that from you promises
A streaming open-handed gift from God.

34. In generosity he has a nature no men
Aspiring high can manage by self-discipline,

35. When they are ignorant of the source from which highness is mustered,
He knows how one rises high in its homes and ascends.

36. He attacked the enemies from every direction,
Drawing near them from every west and east,

37. With white swords when brandished against a people they are defeated,
And steeds when they race to victory outstrip,

38. The Abbasids through him obtained sharp swords
And resolute courage like flaming fire,

39. And a loyal breast that guides them
To the sincere advice of protective Hārān,

40. So around them, through his counsel and defense,
Mountains crowd, coveting the caliphate,

41. I saw you - he who seeks your place goes back
Infamous, and he who seeks your attainment succeeds,

42. To you belong the merit and clear bounty upon me,
While mine is only the love of my heart and my words.