1. She emerged from a distant, dewy wilderness
And the face of dawn gleamed, erecting its pillars.

2. She sent me a greeting that restored
The spirit to the body of this weary soul.

3. Oh, would that I knew if what I had
Grown used to of cheerfulness would return anew!

4. And oh you, lovely nights, places of leisure,
Return to us with reunions, return!

5. How often I sported and how often
I reveled in your moonglow beside the cooking pots.

6. Lovely nights wherein were many gazelles
That made the lions their prey—now themselves prey.

7. And bearing a staff of intertwined bamboo
Swaying through the darkness and cold.

8. You appeared between your curtains, shining
Like the sun rising in the east.

9. Thus you are before my wakeful, watching eyes
Whether I sleep or rise or sit.

10. When I hurl their mentions they come in succession,
Firing within me burning embers.

11. And he whose tears bore witness for him
I have lost behind the veil of estrangement.

12. You softened, relenting time and again,
Bestowing your union after rejections.

13. And, mistress, a stance you and I shared
We spent in a new covenant.

14. We took a stand in which never before
Had we feared a watcher or envier.

15. So I said “have mercy!” and you smiled at me
With a grin that shone like a singular crescent.

16. And there bloomed for my eyes a fresh, rosy cheek
Against which the pommels of swords were powerless.

17. Question me, and truthful words will dispel
Suspicions of certainty—ask me and I will inform you!

18. Ask me and you will find me a brother of meaning
Who benefits you in questioning, so you benefit.

19. And here is a saying from me whose proofs
Were made straight by its steadfast position.

20. Enduring glory and loftiness we see
Established in the eternity of the Eternal.

21. A sword of God’s swords—verily
It has no pillar but praise.

22. The clouds of his generosity to the delegation are not
Like rain-clouds or thunderclouds.

23. A praise of outstanding merit that has no
Match among people nor peer.

24. For it the swords of warriors are unsheathed
It has dispensed with need for any scabbard.

25. I have found praise in him to be excellent
So the excellent has given excellence to the excellent.

26. And he has preferred me with what his hands contain
There of pleasantness or gentle gift.

27. And he deflects harms from me, good deeds like those
Gained in bowing down and prostrating.

28. You have succeeded among us, O outstanding one,
And won the profit of good deed.

29. And you have prided yourself on glory
And on noble deeds, success and fortune.

30. How many a band of people and tribes
Grew tyrannical, being owners of fierce might!

31. You dispatched against them army upon army
With lions lying in wait for the black ones.

32. When they saw them approaching
Armored in iron weapons,

33. They saw and were certain there was no escape
From those armies and soldiers.

34. And all their hearts trembled
Quivering in fear of harm like lutes.

35. Some of them died while others
Became captives in chains and shackles.

36. This is the punishment and crushing blow
They earned, ordained for them.

37. And the power of Him who made Ezra taste
The cup of harm for a hundred years beyond count,

38. Then resurrected and revived him thereby
So after that he existed again in the world,

39. And held up its elevated ceiling until
It was still, needing no pillar,

40. Remaining—neither nearing collapse
Nor rising upward.

41. And brought Joseph out of his prison when
He was blessed therein with beneficial knowledge.

42. And reunited him with his father after he
Had been thrown in and sold for a paltry price.

43. And made mention of the People of the Cave a sign
Among His signs, for a prolonged time.

44. They remained three hundred years
And nine more—that makes it longer.

45. Asleep, while their dog in the cave
Amazed by the sleep of those sleepers,

46. And their dog was near them, its forelegs
Outstretched in the direction of the courtyard.

47. You are the greatest thing on earth whose
Value upon the surface of the earth is unmatched!

48. You inherited glory from Aud the founder
And from Mayl al-Sama and from eternity.

49. You have no peer in superiority
Nor match in praise.