1. Stop at the abode of the loved ones though it is now desolate,
Played with by the hands of the winds that blow softly.

2. Every wild goat bleats over its ruins,
And every brute paws the ground with its hooves.

3. I stopped there while the caravan passed between a laugher
And a weeping one, on the traces and a wailing woman.

4. A stop for Sa’diyya after whom my affairs burst forth
With copious tears from my innermost being.

5. So, O reprover, gently reprove my resistance to being patient for her,
For patience for her is not seemly.

6. How much blood did the bending of camp cause to flow from me
And how many a wound did it widen in my innermost being!

7. She appeared like a sun behind clouds
With a face whose splendor shone from beneath the veils.

8. She robbed me of my self-composure and resolve
And ignited the sparks of passion within my breast.

9. And she enchanted my reason with the magic of her eyes
The day she assailed me with shy glances.

10. The lightning of Yemen stirs me
When it gleams through a rift in the bright clouds.

11. And desire, joyous and passionate,
Sends me the tears of the hands of the fair sobbing women.

12. I see that toil in the world is like the dreams of a slumberer
Whose term is only for striving souls.

13. And endeavor is but two principles whose meanings for it
Have expanded for an ardent suitor and a praiser.

14. Would that I knew! Does the time mock
What it decreed in its judgment or is it not mocking?

15. It treats us through resolute, grudging traits
In the raiment of a praiser, being a miser to its coursers.

16. How many sheep has it rent among the lions!
How it has succoured its whelps through my innermost being!

17.
And it increased my hopes so their summits

18. Became inaccessible to their shepherd in the meadows.
And my soul despaired of its ambitions

19. Which follow the life of delusive mirages.
And I began not to wink at a swimmer

20. And never turned my eyes to one who crossed the desert.
And I sang a song whose heavy rain clouds

21. Poured down like the outpouring of a torrent in flood.
And I sang the two households though they

22. Were busied with it from the oil presses.
And it made the streams laugh and the summits

23. Of its loftiest blossoms smile to each other.
As if it had the traits of an angel when

24. It was fragrant in all its regions with perfume.
A youth who set the world aright and was one who erased

25. Its corruptions through his justice and reforms.
Trustworthy to the Lord of the Throne – his heart

26. Inclined to the truth, O what a heart inclined!
And a sword from the Merciful on earth – a sword unsheathed

27. To cut off the necks of dreadful calamities.
And a light of guidance in the darkness of ignorance

28. That illuminated its realms from every emigrant and settler.
So liken him not a day to mortals. Does

29. A swelling, abundant sea equal little ponds?
He sees what was concealed in the unseen before its existence

30. With a reason and forbearance weighed against tranquility.
Heavy when he met the arm and attacked,

31. Light on the back of the swimming steeds.
He has a pen that bends the spears with its edge

32. Against the hateful, bent by the hands of every spear-thrower.
If it runs its course, it sets in motion affairs and opens

33. Fastnesses not opened for them by keys.
And if it denies sustenance to one accustomed to comfort

34. And refuse what is sought by the importunate beggars.
It is obeyed in every purpose it desires

35. And serves it in the kingdom with sincere service.
And it does whatever the heart secretly commands

36. And follows in planning the ways to well-being.
And how many battalions have been routed by it!

37. Their registers fold back the edges of the pages!
O despoiler! How you have fared well with me and abandoned

38. The backs of the steeds in the backs of the armored horses!
How many times my feet were still vigorous from its deserts,