1. The lover knew his place so he cajoled,
And I was satisfied with his promise though he made excuses.

2. The messenger came but I did not find in his face,
Good news as I used to in the beginning.

3. So I spent my whole day thinking,
And I stayed up all night tossing and turning.

4. And I began to calculate everything that had not
Been clear in my thoughts or just imagined.

5. Perhaps a vision of him visited and his sleeplessness drove him back,
Returning in anger so he became cross.

6. Or a gentle breeze passed by the one I secretly loved,
So he went and said I had become indifferent.

7. And I feared that he might be hoping for another,
Since it is the nature of a branch to sway.

8. And I think he sought something new, for very often
A shirt is removed from one man and put on another.

9.
He sees me as distant while I seek his nearness,

10. And if I were his neighbor, things would change.
I clung to him like a dark, slender branch,

11. And loved him like a black-eyed gazelle.
So the gazelle and the gazelle‐herd were exposed—one

12. In the middle of the sky and the other in the middle of nowhere.
How strange is a heart that is never without sorrow,

13. Always yearning for a time now past.
And the figure of a body that burning passion would have ignited,

14. Had not tears come to extinguish the flames.
It was a love whose conversation I kept secret,

15. Yet I found my tears had conveyed it in an unbroken stream.
I love to show tenderness in love, but my faith

16. Refuses to let me be so humble.
I prepared with delicate flirtation to praise him,

17. Wanting to be informal before making it obligatory.
A king whose nearness let me lord over other kings,

18. And whose garment of honor I donned, trailing its train.
I raised my voice, saying “O Joseph!”

19. And a sovereign answered me, most generous and magnificent.
Then I turned and found around me treasures,

20. The swiftest of which to me were the slowest.
And I picked the choicest fruits of wishes, walking at ease,

21. While the crowds of gifts followed deferentially behind.
Time overpowered me though its course exposed me

22. Until it walked in my service, humbled.
And when I look, I find among his gifts

23. Pride, glory, and loftiness.
The reputation of his generosity is related from him with direct transmission,

24. So why do the clouds relate it without a verifiable chain?
From a people who surpassed kings in sovereignty,

25. Felicity, nobility, and excellence.
It is as if the surface of the earth they ride upon

26. Dresses itself in silk for them, rippling.
Whenever the one with the most vigorous warhorse charges forth,

27. It is as if he donned the torrent and shook a stream from it.
So if you ask, you ask for copious rain,

28. And if you meet him, you meet a rending lion.
My lord, bashfully I have dedicated it to you,

29. A maiden who shows coyness as she excuses herself.
She carries praise heavy as mountains, and so moved slowly,

30. Excuse the tardy one who has come to you laden.
She knew your love for her and her beauty before you,

31. So she came to show you her flirtation and sweetness.
Bedouin if you wish, or civilized,

32. The Khuza`i gathered up her cloak, and her wide dress.
Had she been one whose time preceded,

33. She would have kept Ziyad from saying “He mounted his short-haired camel.”
Flirtation and praise—I am drowned in them

34. Like wine mixed with pure cold water.
They formed a necklace whose composition delights,

35. For a necklace is best when articulated.
O king to whom all kings are subservient, flattering and beseeching,

36. Exalted, generous, and coming to them with delayed fulfillment.
O you whose praise, all of it, is truthful in me,

37. As if I am reciting a revealed scripture.
O you whose loyalty is clear advice in me,

38. And advice to people will not be interpreted otherwise.
Indeed my life with you is sweet, and I have not desired

39. Any other life, even if I had wanted to live.
I thanked your generosity with all thanks, knowing

40. I cannot fulfill even some small part.