1. Is it a drawing I see, or is that his image returning at dusk?
Or is it a revelation in the heart's depths of peace?

2. His cheek smooth like the rim of a basin,
Disheveled, dusty, gray hair and wrinkled face.

3. It was my own soul that bid farewell,
Tears flowing down her cheeks ceaselessly.

4. At dawn she appeared in the cold and came
Like the sun of a day or the full moon.

5. The flood of tears reddened her cheek
As rose petals are moistened with dew.

6. She tried to bid me farewell but feared a watcher
Defending her with spear and zeal.

7. She whose youth enchanted me,
And whose love made me heedless of blame.

8. Separation's absence came between us.
She wore the garb of estrangement and sickness.

9. The stars of Al Nawa contained her until the Pleiades set.
She weakened and sent no phantom or specter.

10. We sent greetings but she held back,
And did not allow a single greeting in return.

11. How strange that she has now forbidden
What was never forbidden or unlawful!

12. The ardour of love for her is in all my joints,
My flesh, blood, even bones.

13. I grow jealous when her rosy lips
Kiss the mouth of some fool from Iraq or Damascus.

14. They waver like a sapling rod,
When she sways with coquettish gait.

15. Crooked as the letter 'ain, she strides
Distances with her hand on hips, flirting and teasing.

16. The flirtations made her melt away until
Her smiles from her weakened and vanished.

17. She casts lightning bolts from her charm’s clouds
Without clouds or rain.

18. When you descend on your steed, you gain
The widest quarter, fertile and pleasant.

19. Giving, bestowing, towering dignity and restraint
Against the foolhardy beneath every cloud.

20. When the sword blades clash and break
You see them there, slashing with swords again.

21. Zeal followed zeal in glory among his ancestors,
Courage after courage, zeal upon zeal.

22. The world submitted to him in obedience, as if
He rightly drove it with its bridle.

23. You see an old nobleman, when white hair appears,
Become beside flowing hair, a youth.

24. He aspires to lofty heights, while others his age
Decline into Zainab, Fartana, and Hutham.

25. Shall I take pride in one who is hospitable to guests
And wraps himself in striped cloak and turban?

26. The frowning fortunes smiled at you, so its face
Told of a garden adorned with double kerchief.

27. You surpassed the kings of earth in the arena of glory,
So you were the Imam before every Imam.

28. Still you live in comfort and honor
And in unbroken blessing and permanence.