1. The ruins of past joys bid us to weep,
So they remain as ruins weeping for ruins.

2. When a lover complains of his beloved's sickness,
His tears become the draught that makes her sick.

3. The madness of passion finds no religion to follow,
No duties to perform, no creed to profess.

4. O you who reproach me for passion, have mercy
On a grief-stricken soul, deaf to all rebuke.

5. I see you busy blaming, be gentle, I implore,
For I am occupied in self-reproach.

6. Chained by captivity, I shall be the thrall tomorrow
Of every lily-white maid and dark-eyed gazelle.

7. How strange that whenever we meet for union
Fate intervenes to part us without surcease!

8. Many a death have I died from her glance on the day we parted,
The glance she shot at me, pitilessly.

9. More dazzling than the moon in her brilliance,
Her face, and the taste of her saliva sweeter than honey.

10. Her glances cast spells, and the saliva of her smile
Is a cure for all sickness and pain.

11. When her rosy cheek smiles, the rose upon it
Seems to melt into her face for very shame.

12. Her swaying hips complain of the weight they bear,
Her girdle complains of the pain beneath her dress.

13. In union with her I see my life assured,
In her good will I see triumph over death.

14. In you and in my father - valiant, noble prince -
Is the best of my boasting, my poetry and song,

15. Crowned by the Most High with glory, your rank
Transcends the star of Saturn in its loftiness.

16. Succor of the needy, lion of war, owning nothing
But the cloak you stand in and the bare hillside.

17. The more embassies crowd your court, the more
Your bounty flows, like the sun whose heat grows in Cancer.

18. The state of Islam is exalted by your reign
And glories in your wide-flung supremacy.

19. When you are portrayed as a mortal like other men,
Forbear, make no idle fancies of sober fact.

20. Compare him not in generosity to mortal men,
For the ocean cannot match a little pond.

21. O noblest of men, dwelling or departed,
And proudest of mortals, mounted or on foot!

22. In how many a battle with your foes have you effaced
All memory of the fray of the Camel and others!

23. Were there after Ahmad any prophets sent
You would have been the seal of the envoys of God.