1. To whom belongs the square at the valley's slope,
Its playgrounds now desolate and lacking hope,

2. Unkempt yet still flourishing and evergreen,
Its pillars standing where they have always been,

3. Companioned after separation by thoughts rife,
Since the day it lost the friend that was its life,

4. How often here my tail of youth I've dragged,
How often by its love and ardour I've been snagged,

5. That meadow sweet which cups of wine would fill
Still chides me when we meet, and I it still,

6. I told it of my state and what I have seen,
The day its mounts were parted from its green,

7. I spoke to it, its secrets then revealed,
From where I stood, conversing with its field,

8. A lover, when I try to kiss his cheek,
Stings my heart with pangs from venoms in his reek,

9. Three on a branch, in leaves their robes entwine,
Their wraps enfold the night and morning shine,

10. I envy it its necklaces which grace
Its soft neck, perfumed, from its resting place,

11. Ah, its beauty walking with faltering feet,
Shivering in the cold wind which it must greet,

12. The day of union is the radiance of its face,
The night of separation are its robe's creases,

13. Rising, it struggles under its heavy load,
As its crupper fights against its goad,

14. O you, the gazelle, who made me taste the wine,
Of passion, which does not diminish with each sip of mine,

15. Won't you give me a kiss with which I'll smother
The embers your love caused, flames in me to further?

16. I see people differ in nature and soul,
But one's nature is shaped by company's role,

17. Do not be fooled by people, choose the most righteous one,
For nothing equals the truthful and honest one,

18. How often has a mirage been mistaken for a stream,
And darkness' lantern for a star's gleam!

19. One's days may be known by who is his friend and his foe,
Who greets him each morn and who strikes at him each blow,

20. Pleasure is marred by discontent's vicious strangle,
When the locks of youth begin to mottle and tangle,

21. Fortune steals from my life all that I have earned,
Yet I wrest from fortune all that I have learned,

22. Would that life could grant me all that I desire,
For I seek the difficult things I aspire,

23. I find myself wishing for a past now gone,
Its pleasures and joys no longer live on,

24. I hope for things impossible to obtain,
Can the teat give back milk once sucked from its vein?

25. Smiling he turned, and my smile turned to flowing tears,
As darkness's wings did their mystery unfurl,

26. Sighing, he spurred his steed, as a farmer would race,
His robes heavy with rain back home to his place,

27. Generous, though drought dried the rain from men's wells,
His robes still poured rain where people did dwell,

28. The realm's justice he kept, his rule he made wide,
Bringing those distant closer to his side,

29. He shared all he had, gave money away,
Which no palm had before his benevolent day,

30. He filled praises with glory and generosity,
Wherever fine traits and virtues could be,

31. The nights' turns reveal what is and what will be,
As if the nights themselves wrote his decree,

32. None in heaven could spy on him, no prying thing,
Save the stars which peered out from under its wing,

33. Had he unleashed his might against time, none would remain
To rise up again, all would be made plain,

34. A raincloud pouring heavy rain on the just,
And on the wicked, only bolts to disgust,

35. With no one drawing sword, it seemed to advance,
To smite his foes with its lighting and lance,

36. You have courted glory and rightly so,
Both your beginning and end honour will know,

37. Against the enemy, you have boldly set loose,
A sword sharpened with purpose its edge to produce,

38. None but you wears victory's mantle now unfurled,
None but you is the winner declared in this world,

39. You have sought glory and succeeded in gaining it,
Both your efforts and results show true merit.