1. O lightning, enliven the lightnings and then become still,
Pour down, O clouds, a shower whose thunder rumbles,

2. And sprinkle with what befits your condition those who have grieved,
Their tears are those enduring hills.

3. And clothe the landmarks in a verdant garment
That shows pearls and emerald,

4. Until the garden returns lively and laughing,
Its blossoms in their beauty juicy and supple,

5. Among yellow, plump red,
Deep blue, shining white and jet black,

6. So that you see their buds laughing like silver,
This next to that, and that one bent over.

7. The breeze blows among them scattering fresh fragrance
From their musk through the meadows far and wide.

8. And it went to salute their aromatic branches,
Branches of acacia and bending boughs of wild plum.

9. Its landmarks after my pact with it,
After its people’s journey will no more pledge.

10. O messenger, hasten to the Living and remember me, and say
To Sa’d, what has barred her from happiness?

11. I am true to my vow and pay no heed
To whoever slanders her as long as I live and compose.

12. I am the ransom, I am the ransom for her, and from me
Is it much that I be ransom for her?

13. Would that she gave me her soul’s kiss
Before drinking it in gulps I stride.

14. A body smoother than the breeze as it wanders by night
And a heart that tells of resolve within.

15. And when she sways while walking and her anklets tinkle
She traces the straight, firmly-planted staff.

16. O she of slender waist, allow my release from
Being bound by love of you, ever-chained.

17. What if you would favor me with a draught
Sweeter than pure water and cooler?

18. Each day you have a tryst with me, my
Fair one, though you never kept true to a tryst.

19. I have pursued your love until I see
Error as guidance and the right path as astray.

20. And I made my soul find sweet your torment in love,
Content with it as doing good or leading me to ruin.

21. I am altogether perplexed, I have not said
In that from me what is other or different.

22. Why me and the life of sorrows, as though I
Was its adversary from the first and aggressor?

23. I left it not in peace after the battles
Except it returned to battles and intensified them

24. Until I came to Abū al-Ṭayyib who
Gives bounty to the generous and aids with exertion.

25. So he protected me from the caprice of a time
Whose heat had been most painful heat.

26. And I gained through him a life of gentle living
After a life amidst livelihoods most loathsome.

27. Al-Mujāhid the brave, who inherited glory
Above every valiant and splendid chieftain,

28. A king who excels in magnanimity as
His father had excelled in it before him.

29. And he rushed to follow in the arenas of glory
‘Amr ibn Hind, Shā’ and al-Aswad.

30. And he built and constructed a house of glory that rose
Until reaching the seventh heaven well-structured.

31. He has not taken on the path to supremacy
Except the most proper and guided route.

32. Were it not for the establishment of his justice in his land
Its inhabitants would have become cold ashes.

33. O you whose sword and right hand are
A kindled fire and foaming sea,

34. I have brought humble gifts for your glory
That my excellent verses extol.

35. And they have testified to my affection for you—but do you see
Any proof other than them that could testify?

36. You are the unique one, unique in your time. You have not ceased
To be in every position singular in your glory.

37. You have ascended the seven degrees of supremacy
Until you rejected the fourth, and grasped firmly the pillar.

38. Until the stars seem to plunge from their orbits
Prostrating themselves to kiss your slipper.