1. The rapture of a soul whose anguish is incurable,
And the burning of abundant, unfulfilled yearnings,

2. And a darkness that does not heed my guarded secret,
Nor the tears that run down her cheeks.

3. A quarter that nurtures its saplings
With an eye's tear-drops in the abodes I frequent.

4. Were it not for an ember I keep glowing in my chest,
My eyes would not have welled for crying.

5. When the wind blows on it, it exudes fragrance,
For it is like conversing intimately with its branches and leaves.

6. Sick are the corners of my eyelids, though
The soundest eyes are those of lovesick singers.

7. She shot me with an arrow whose notch was carved by kohl,
And I am slain by the glances of a charming rogue.

8. My night conversations were with one whose clothes
Were stained with blood while she stretched out her hands.

9. She turned away after leaving an attachment in my heart
That the days keep passing while it is anchored.

10. And I said to my confidante when tears betraying my secret
Broke out when her camels appeared over the hill:

11. "Stop blaming me, she is not who my hearing follows,
For that is my soul's love, and you are its friend."

12. Would that a more perceptive tongue than mine
Were cleaved by parting from the youth at the acme of puberty.

13. I spurn him while passion insists I befriend him,
Spitefully granting acceptance to his refusal.

14. And makes me remember the place of my loved ones,
Where pigeons moan amidst the leafy banana trees,

15. Weeping and crying atop the branches of an 'ayka' tree,
In ransom for it from the land of Iraq's palms.

16. Were it not for the tears of rapture, I would not have perceived
Her crying, or let my own tears flow in lament.

17. In a land where a noble people camped,
Whose bones are generous heroes.

18. I adorn my poetry with them, as I adorned it with her,
By God, I speak of their valor in my verses.

19. It sings of my glory when my utterance grows proud,
And expresses the emancipation of the wine-skins in its neighing.

20. I have not seen a people treat an outcast
In the wilderness by letting the earth guide him.

21. The dew wets his coat, and it wraps him
Against the biting winds in the darkness of night.

22. Obedient while excitement overwhelms their pride,
Tended while the dust stirs up their determination.

23. How many glories among them rest their foreheads
Serenely in the darkness of night and shadow.

24. The base of his hoof is protected
While his ambition in glory is lofty.

25. Can the wide desert lead me to their dwelling places
Along the way taken by the mountain goats?

26. A full moon made me infatuated with it - how often have I been
Forbearing while it provoked me to hostile folly.

27. A stalwart whose palms the thorn-trees flourish under,
Though their edges begin to wither.

28. And the chaos is covered in shining white armor
That returns as red trails of retreating remnants.

29. And he awakens the sleepers with the fibers of his spear
While they hid away in the murk of night.

30. Upon them are the Turks, descendants of Japheth,
With many who descend to the place of death.

31. They are lions, fierce in battle, with grim faces
When enraged, and their swords' flashes are violent.

32. And if they speak, you would say they are wild cats,
Though they are youths descended from Noah's tribe.

33. They resembled them in eyes when they were face to face
with a fiery horse whose white front was stained with blood.

34. A world has turned away from you in which mischief
Rebelled wantonly and the wretched triumphed.

35. Were it not for you, the claws of sedition would not be blunted,
Which involved its youths and elders equally.

36. So they died together when the swords casting shadows
Upon their necks deafened the dissenters with their clanging.

37. And if it broke out, their women's wombs would be graves
And only their blood would nourish its offspring.

38. And whoever is contaminated by the dust of sedition's turmoil
Will taste stabs whose wounds will never heal.

39. So live by an empowering hand and a kingdom that surrounds you,
A protector that suffices, and blessings it grants you.

40. And aspire to the heights, for they are attainable through you,
While the path to them is obscured from others.