1. An empty square with tear that dries up
And passion so sweet and heart that trembles

2. And love the more I said expired
Its rule increased sorrow and remorse

3. And young women added to
The heat of my heart, they do not turn away

4. O you who reproach passion, this is an abode
It is right that I stand on it

5. How much it seemed to me a rising full moon in it
And a bending branch of youth

6. In it we used to drink the cup of union
And the fruits of nearness we used to pluck

7. A time passed by me in it, well received
Then it became an empty, barren wasteland

8. Is there a friend who sheds tears for me, fortunate?
Is there a loyal friend to hope for or reconcile with?

9. Alas! From a time when I asked it
About a loyal one, it said “This is betrayal”

10. Treachery appeared and the just dwindled
Ignorance grew and the sinner dominated

11. And my time followed the sea which
Casts away pearls and floats carrion

12. How much a traitor felt safe in it
And one whose origin is unknown rose high

13. My hatred increased for a time that did not help
Except the base and vile people

14. I have let down my dignity for them
So let them praise or slander as they wish

15. O you who envy, if it were not
That I am a man of moderation, I would have stood

16. I would have esteemed you highly and exalted you
For I am the pearl and you are the shell

17. For me is the jurisprudence by which I issued rulings
And the faces of grammar turn towards my composition

18. For me is the poetry which traveled
From it the treasures to all regions

19. For me is the prose which its rhymed parts
Intoxicate the hearing, amazing and astounding

20. And to the virgins my mind races ahead
And the powers of thoughts in me weaken

21. And I am the master of literature even if
The truth denier refuses to acknowledge

22. How much and how much the suns of debate rose
In the sky of research that eclipse around me

23. An innate pure nature
And the latter builds on the predecessors

24. Many an eye wishes to see me
And the chaste swear by my life

25. I am a lump in the throat of my enviers
And cause them harm beyond description

26. Woe to me, by Allah, from my words “I”
An utterance the rational mind disdains

27. But the envier obliged me
To mention what leaving is more virtuous