1. The lightning of smiles shone from the beloved's mouth
Or was it the light of his cheek that beamed

2. Or those verses on his forehead
That dawn had inscribed

3. You have tortured me, O branch of basil
My aching heart, O friend of pain

4. And warded me off though I had not
Committed a sin against you or transgressed

5. And you made me sick just as
You reserved your gaze for sickness

6. So I concealed my love in shyness
And tears betrayed what I concealed

7. I know not what I experienced from you
Fondness or aloofness

8. For the beautiful, when ruled by beauty
Is not unjust

9. You forgot what love had done
When we were intimate

10. Where the beloved embraces me
And clings to me

11. And I sipped from the cup of wine
Giving it a mouth to mouth

12. Squeezing from his cheek
Lips fastened with a kiss

13. And I swear by your eyes I have not forgotten
Moments of intimacy that have passed with a kiss

14. By the temple, the cheek I swear and the whiteness of his teeth
I have no sin except that

15. I likened him to a gazelle
He showed rejection and said in

16. The simile you have slipped
O ignorant one, know the value of passion

17. You are merely an accuser
You compared me to a gazelle

18. And the gazelle is fed bitter berries
And you made my neck dark

19. While cardamom is its pasture
Who will defend me from the rejection

20. Of the aloof one and his certainty?
Relate to the keen observer As'ad

21. Abu Al-Himam, meaning Ibn As'ad
The one who attained the heights and by them prevailed

22. The rays of his virtue appeared as blessings upon a banner
It is as if he were a moon shedding light

23. Through the darkness of generosity
Woe to his enemy when

24. The Yemeni unsheathed and stormed
Or when he shook his dark spear

25. The sons of Ma'addi or Ghassan fled
If you smelled the day of his battles

26. You would forget the drawing of swords
This exalted As'ad

27. Imposing yet humble
He never said no when asked

28. Except yes
Noble scion of glory from

29. A father, brother and uncle
They were stars and when he came

30. He was the full moon in the darkness of night
The exalted sang his praises

31. Since he was weaned from suckling
And the fates in his garden twittered

32. A lofty melody
His smile blossomed and returned

33. To life from nothingness
God reward a family

34. Through whom glory prevailed over nations
Seed of glory in which there is no

35. Doubt or blemish
They are the family of Mar'ab except what

36. Ancestors and generous nobles decreed
They dispelled darkness with the flashes of

37. Their swords that cleaved skulls
They are warriors whose clamor

38. Cuts to the core of the deaf
It is as if, when war grew fraught

39. And the throngs mingled in combat
They were lions upon steeds

40. Fierce with blood
O Lord, whose citadel

41. Is inviolable sanctuary
Dictate eulogies praising the beautiful

42. Smile of an upturned mouth
Thirstily coming to draw

43. From your palm's pouring Nile
Submit yourself and always

44. Recite this Christian's eulogy
Son of nobility, a plant nourished by your bounty

45. Known by this banner
Never ceasing to bestow gifts

46. With generosity on those who come and go
Where by nature bounty flows

47. Previously and in you culminates