1. Do lightning bolts flashing above make your eyelids flicker with tears that flow
And express longing in moans when doves coo in the branches melodiously?

2. Yes, when I smell lightning in the south
Yearning awakens in me, lingering and unsettled

3. And I'm stirred by memories of Umm Ayman although she is gone
And the caravans with her have distanced and departed

4. My tears for her almost caused my demise
From their abundance my eyes became ulcerated

5. How often has my love pined for Umm Ayman's letter
Perfumed with the scent of musk and ambergris

6. I wonder does she intend by her distance
Barriers or is she just teasing?

7. The whites of her eyes as she looked reproachfully
Scorched the heart, how ugly and hideous!

8. The anklet on her leg complained of a throbbing in her shin
And the slipper on her foot embroidered and decorated

9. She sways gently in the tender breeze
As sway the pliable brances of the bending bough

10. And when she tries to stand her heavy hips
Weigh her down like the sloping sand dunes

11. The radiance of her beauty is not diminished by the whites of her rolling eyes
Rather it is enhanced, more dazzling and brilliant

12. Oh how she is adored by every Muslim
Who desires her over the Christians ardently

13. She is a gazelle who has not grazed in a meadow
But playfully gambols in the gardens of my heart

14. We travelled a land seeking another land beyond it
A desolate wilderness with echoing sands

15. We journeyed while meteors shot down
From the heavens into the sea of darkness diving

16. Until we halted though the high dunes shook us
With a land whose plenty of herbage flourished

17. A land we came to specifically because
It is for us the best land in the country and most righteous

18. A land where through his generosity has become wealthy
The singer when he gives and bestows graciously

19. A youth whose justice destroys tyranny and whose kindness
Opens for us the door of joy and unlocks it

20. Clouds of his generosity shade us
Raining with the showers of his munificence generously

21. Showers from his open hands that humble
The rains from monsoon clouds and put them to shame

22. He remains awake seeking exaltation
And rises revered in himself, noble and distinguished

23. He expends abundant wealth magnanimously
And pardons the wrongdoer, forgetting and forgiving

24. He plunges into the darkness of battle in the fury of the fray
As the fire of battle burns and scorches the faces

25. Greatest of earth's kings in status and rank
Most just of them in rule, successful and prospering

26. More lucid than Hatem and Ibn Mamah
Wiser and more eloquent

27. With you are charming brides that come as if
Exhaling the scent of perfumes of musk

28. A bride adorned with virtues, ornamented
By the rhymes of poetry, explicit and unambiguous

29. Sweetest to hear with the most flowing words
Clear in composition, intoned and explained

30. Were you not supreme amongst rulers
I would find no way, so little truth is there in praise,

31. When I declaim praise of you it is as if
I sanctify the truthfulness of that praise