1. Like the threads of an embroiderer's loom
You saunter between carpets and cushions

2. Graceful, supple in your swaying gait
In a gown whose trains the buckles restrain

3. And we passed by the valley's soft sands
Where they told of the swaying of slender date palms

4. And the anemones told of the darkening of their hearts
And their blushing cheeks borrowed redness

5. As though their eyes from their lids
Had drunk the red juice of grapes on a vine

6. So they passed me when night's veil was frail
And stars began to peer out to twinkle and glitter

7. I felt the cool touch of their jewelry and the breeze
Shaking unkempt locks played notes lyrical

8. So their light pierced its darkness and they
Were shaded by the gloom of trailing black trains

9. While I where the distance rings from their steeds
Fell far and drew near the load on my chest

10. Our beds honor guests with utmost decorum
My cheek covers my abstinence with its flush

11. My youth fades but my whim is its advocate
To the stern judge, appealing for clemency

12. My drink is the blueness of clouds, so no days
Could water their herds at my runnels

13. So the one who destroys severed the tie of fellowship
Binding covenants and pacts with decay

14. Then after fortunes divided me, their turns
Left me wandering, bereft of resolve or goal

15. Would that the horse had perished in a land
Where no rider's path crossed the barren waste

16. Clouds gave rain but I find no life in the world
Between mere recreation, like orient pearls

17. Rather the son of Amer bestowed it freely
Quenching the molded stars of its sphere in his munificence

18. Kindling strong resolves which if thrown could
Extinguish celestial bodies, reducing them to embers

19. Seeking exaltation sleeplessly among a tribe
Slumbering heedless of attaining any height

20. With a plain none dare accuse and the repute
Of selflessness, and a crop self-sown

21. Whose fertile crescents are dwelling places for regiments
Or halting places for caravans on the move

22. When dissension wrapped the lands in its gown
It harvested nothing but the souls of the preyed upon

23. Igniting discords, feeding on fruits of war
Begetting strife and nursing anger and feud

24. Subduing its bonds and quenching its flames
Before fury's inferno and after the fuel is burned

25. With the naked blade the deadly strokes are struck
Like lions amid canes in the bosky wood

26. On the hilltops of enmity, on hooves created
From stubborn rock and frozen into solidity

27. With sharp swords drawn from their sheaths
As though clad in coats of mail and armor

28. Had he let loose his dark plumed arrows
The white pages would have sought refuge from being torn

29. While the red spears from fear of being shattered in fray
Show a tremor, ejected and cast out

30. As if unveiled before enemies on the day
Destinies cross and death foretold arrives

31. But when fears shrink their shadow from each
Craven heart given to panic and dread

32. Whether prisoner hoping for leniency, fettered at waist
Or both from awe or greed, ferocity and generosity

33. Manacled in shackles and bound fast
How often have I told the cunning in their affairs

34. To hurl at them the calamities of refutation
Loyalty is betrayed so their hearts hold no water

35. But inside, fires of hatred smolder and burn
Whether present at events or absent they are the same

36. Sitting for grievances as though in prayer bowed
They built no lofty glory or gained any lasting

37. Renown with themselves or their forebears' devotion
Seek it not for the worst that can befall a man

38. Is seeking disappointment for petitioner rejected
O Ali, yours are deeds compared to which

39. A man is envied and excellence claimed by the envious
Your attributes that malice did not obscure

40. Are evident despite the enemies' disavowal
While other men went astray, all glory is yours

41. Losing the markers on its blocked, dead-end path
So turn your face to the auspicious New Year

42. And time, fragrant as blossoms, soft as lute's wood
In a state lowering its banners over a glory

43. Sheltered in its shade, ever-extending