1. I waver between despair and hope
And forgive love though it leads me to reproach

2. I ask the specter about Salma if
The intercession of sleep avails the insomniac

3. I don’t think the promises of the sand dunes last
What promise of yours, O obscure night, has come true?

4. What the hands of fate did to us
The evening the moons donned their veils

5. When they smile they rob lightning of its ferocity
And when they glance they seduce the gazelle with kohl

6. Of every polished white forearm its bracelets
Divide loyalty between betrayal and boredom

7. From her eyelashes it unsheathed a sharp sword that took
From its edge and her cheeks the redness of shyness

8. I came to her while the darkness was still thick
And dawn approaching in golden raiment

9. And the spy has humility in his glances
That mock her with the looks of a drunken reveler

10. So virtue drove back beneath her sleeves a hand
That triumphs in panic like the valiant knight’s armor

11. Then I left while our hearts were like
A bird’s wings folded in farewell

12. In her smiles for me what kings pursue
With your approval the hunt of old

13. God reward you for a ruin whose soil
Was reddened for Him by horses and camels’ blood

14. On the plain of Shari’ah a racer to glory
Whose winds blow sadly at a walking pace

15. And a despot in judgment whom no argument
Can sway, gesturing at opinions with error

16. Resolute for command though its paths are blocked to him
And in his eyes the way of tricks has narrowed

17. The sword profits its bearer on the day of panic
If its edge is keener than the flaws within

18. So the follower of God increased him in bounty
Cloaking him in the verdant garb of youth renewed

19. And the vigor of bygone days returned to him
When he revisited the first whiteness of his days

20. The propitious robes make their wearer radiant
With the brilliance of the star Canopus unleashed

21. And whose pouring rain is his hands’ tilt
Whoever dons the mantle of pride

22. Becomes heedless in what clothes him
And fate and foes came to him in a swoon

23. Drenching intimates and brothers in their blood
Borne by his guide though necks bow down

24. To a hoof the people’s eyes regard as defiled
O Saad how many blessings have you attained

25. Leaving the living to be envied for their stinginess!
Are these the reeds of rule you wield

26. Or the adversities of sins withered?
You have attained by them what was hard to seek

27. Beyond Indian onagers and does of the slopes
Indeed the battalions are books issued from you

28. So fortify by them the whims of flat and rugged ground
And pride yourself on the glory you have bound

29. Whose dew comes and goes the epitome of ideals
Though the noble ways are multifarious

30. You are the convergence of their paths
May the assemblage of glories continue constant from you

31. And the passing of nights keep you busy