1. You have of my youthful passion what I conceal
And I confide the pain of love yet reveal

2. Remembering the days of innocence consoles me
And longing in the rememberer abounds

3. When my dark-lipped beloved stretched
The shadows of her tresses, leaves of green youth

4. It was a playground whose horizons delighted us
When we were clad in robes of adolescence roamed

5. So with my panting breath and pouring tears
Its features faded and were showered

6. And I search those haunts with my eyes
My heart knows them while my eyes deny

7. And I restrain my overflowing fervor for it
Informs of your secret in the most hidden thoughts

8. So I remained embracing ardour, restless
Languishing in your love, and excused

9. Quraysh grew angry when I took leadership
With anger so venomous it dripped

10. And they resumed blaming me but I did not heed them
With hearing that lessens blame and increases it

11. My clan thinks it trivial that I complain of love
While they slumber I remain sleepless

12. With my praise, Hayfa raises her neck proudly
A gazelle glancing coyly, an ostrich strutting haughtily

13. I came upon them and the spies were alarmed
A lion bidding farewell to a deer, brown of eye

14. Pearls are threaded when his laughter rings
And if I weep, from my eyelids they scatter

15. So I trod the cheek of night atop a windswept hill
Behind it the winds blow wildly and become confined

16. My steed prances as if amidst the clash of armies
A fire kindled by the hooves sets his tail ablaze

17. Glory wraps me, its icy touch reaches
My throat, my blade, my chestnut steed, my fiery bay

18. By what right do I clothe myself in disgrace while my abode
Is the best caliphs, Ahmed al-Mustadhir

19. He is the virtuous exemplar of the auspicious age
Thriving on the throne, lost is the pulpit

20. And like the flow of the waterwheel his glory
From the fount of prophesy flows copiously

21. His high morals rise above piety, his gentleness
Inspires hope, his might evokes caution

22. Prayers do not benefit those who trail the hem
Of misguidance, and from their desire I recoil

23. Had the banner of a deviant been inclined toward him
Forgiveness would have summoned his swords

24. His pardons exist where bounty fulfills wishes
His vengeance where the spears break

25. With his swords and his sword throughout tribulations
Prevailing, shortening, prolonging

26. As if he is Mansur in his resolves
Mohammed in his charities, Ja'far in his munificence

27. And if their lineages are enumerated, they are
The pearls, the exquisite selected gems

28. They have renowned feats against the foe
Wolves recite them, eagles recall them

29. The pleiades in the formations bleeding
The white stars bloodied by the red flock

30. The horns ride the repulsion of the fertile crescent
While the bent ones stumble over the skulls

31. The day breaks from the dust cloud and the swords shine in it
Though it is a night, it is as brilliant as the full moon

32. O son of the intercessor, till death no man
Can be assured of glory, the greatest possession

33. I am a product of your blessings that cannot be rivaled
With them the clouds are copious, from them rain pours stronger

34. The meadows that host it guarantee from you
Eloquence and the luminous forehead

35. Whether I draw near or become distant, my obsession
Is praise with familiar passion that cannot be dispelled

36. Your eminence is a shade I desire, and from
My words to it what can be hoarded, endures

37. My spirit prompts your eulogy and enlightens it
My intellect and fortune in praising you overflow

38. Baghdad - carry me, O camel, to one
Whose neck sways, whose cover is checkered

39. By the sanctity of Mustajin, I am commissioned
And look to its offspring as my goal

40. As if it is what my wishes suggest
And I watch my abode emigrating to it

41. A land where the caliphate trails its skirt
And upon it the brows of kings redden

42. As if a paradise has been revealed to us
And as if the Tigris in it pours Al-Kawthar

43. Its breeze is the sweetest fragrance, its soil
is musk the mornings disseminate fresh

44. The weak thrive in it and the timid feel safe
His couch disturbed. The poor enriched

45. But I turned away when my comrades
And the rabble among them harmed me

46. Whoever clads himself in what impugns a man
Hurting, oppressing, betraying, deceiving

47. So I shook off my hand, fearing their cunning
For the noble do not tolerate harm

48. And my poetry refused to sully itself with them
Content that the ignoble be scorned

49. I repaid their evil with the good I do
For I am more virtuous in deeds

50. Some of them death erased, while others
In delusions remain, aware of the evils committed

51. The Fate effaces the renowned white fox
When the dark herd does not deter him from vice

52. Their group is fragmented - how many a watering place
Is for the oppressors yet has no source for them!

53. And to the Commander of the Faithful inclines
Praise like meadows blossoming, adorning

54. Appointing their assembly by dark night
And gathering its wanderers by brilliant morn

55. With obedience like his, guidance is sought
With grace like his, nobility is restored