1. Had you witnessed my tears the day we parted,
Your heart would have refrained from falling in love again.

2. You would have been the first to stop me from leaving,
Holding my hand even if you were the most caring lover.

3. You would have excused me for not being able to endure patiently,
And been amazed that I do not melt from the burning pain.

4. I called on the camels heading to Mudanaf
To weep with the weeping of the bereft and heartbroken.

5. I gave them an eyelid that when I moved it gently,
The eyelids of estranged women wept without end.

6. Oh Amr, what great misfortune has not occurred
Yet parting was more severe and devastating.

7. Let me rush into violence; perhaps
Violence would be gentler with me than tenderness.

8. My eyes have wept until their blackness
Mixed with their overflowing tears.

9. Hasten to the ruins with more tears,
You have wasted them by separation and dispersion.

10. Or ask a friend for some solace,
If one with wealth would give comfort.

11. The gazelles tomorrow at Rāma did not leave
Anything except a restless heart and a provoking spirit.

12. The opportunities came but did not grant, and how many suitors
Have passed you by without watering.

13. A singing bird whose traps I set up to catch them,
And it was I who got caught in them.

14. And how often did I forbid the lion, who defeats heroes,
From hunting the gazelle he would devour greedily.

15. But destiny insists on what is destined,
And misery is assigned to afflict my miserable brother.

16. Often I walked when the sky was
Covered with a carpet of shining stars.

17. The night was like a torrent, had it not been for
Darkness covering the meadows, deeper and darker.

18. Warriors armed themselves in robes of darkness
So their clothing looked more effective and impressive.

19. I gave them the cup of wine in a night
When darkness was afraid that dawn would shine through.

20. Until when morning unveiled itself
Like the face of a dignitary beaming and glittering.

21. They descended from the camel litter better
Than when they climbed up bending their necks.

22. At dawn their foreheads shine for the delegates
Like a sun whose heights are radiant.

23. They descended but did not find it abandoned,
Nor opened a door to its hospitality that was locked.

24. If you visit it, the spring of its goodness overflows,
Truly, the seas are prone to drown in it.

25. And when the father of hospitality surrounds you,
You will have taken a firm covenant from the nights.

26. He forbids more firmly, and honors when able,
Prolongs when denied, and forgives when angry.

27. If only those who speak of his generosity
Spoke truthfully, but none would believe it.

28. He accompanied time, which had withered,
And watered it with kindness until it flourished.

29. Do not mention to him virtues and sublimity,
Lest you stir up a youth or arouse a longing one.

30. He loves praise, and it loves him,
And so beauty continues to be loved passionately.

31. His actions flow along the ways of virtues,
When the doer has a virtuous character.

32. He does not grant kindness except inclusively,
The best life is that which encompasses universally.

33. He concealed his talents, so his reputation spread,
Who can prevent the dawn from shining?

34. He took a solemn vow to do good, and did not fear
That any difficult endeavor would impede him.

35. He aimed for the distant goal, and never spent
A night anxious about anything but noble deeds.

36. Sublime is his ambition, noble his determination,
If you call him, call only to what is fulfilling.

37. If he is generous to an individual, presenting himself as
A suitor, or joins a group who have come together randomly,

38. You will find him in the fervor of every dire situation
A hero, when the hated situation becomes true.

39. Like the reddish and yellow lion, but
More perfect of youth and more elegant in splendor.

40. Competing in the furthest reach of glory,
The closer and nearer his stature, the faster he runs.

41. Those chasing cannot reach the extent of his glory,
Who can climb to the sky by scaling?

42. Alas! That right, most sincere,
Cannot be obstructed by the envious flocking about it.

43. And it would be regression for an insignificant person
To put himself forward over a subjugator who slipped.

44. Not every position one strives for
Can be attained, nor every high place climbed.

45. Oh leader of chieftains, what persevering rival
Can manage to catch up with you and overtake you?

46. What does the gambler attempt after
Finding the way to compete with you narrow?

47. Indeed, leadership does not befit other than those
Who since birth were dedicated to its bosom and wrapped around it,

48. Responsible for its riches, singular in its virtues,
And fully realizing its kingdom.

49. How much virtue in you is gathered that would exhaust and incapacitate
When dispersed in the world and scattered about?

50. Your family has the pride that if it
Reached the sky it would darken it.

51. Whoever boasts that he is from a
Family that became honorable and branches into nobility,

52. Let him bring us a father like your father in
Sublimity, or a grandfather like yours in piety.

53. As for Damascus, it has gained through you an honor
That has made it too noble to be overcome.

54. You have fortified it with your judicious mind, erecting
Ramparts around it from your elevation and trenches.

55. And you have protected its territory with the resolve of one peerless,
Whose prosperous actions have always been blessed.

56. You have watered it from the abundance of your justice with blessings
That do not deprive the visitors of a flourishing meadow.

57. If it darkens you are the clearing dawn,
Or if it becomes barren you are the pouring spring.

58. And I am the one who has become captive to passions
For you, whose captive does not wish to be freed.

59. The best and noblest that a hopeful one hopes for
Is not to be seen excluded from your overflowing generosity.

60. I imagined your generosity endless, so it overflowed with generosity,
And if you hold back the torrent it increases in gushing forth.

61. I have protected my hopes from others, while the
Paltry ones wearing coats of mail have no power.

62. The flow of your generosity left no place for an obtainer,
So the streams have dried up, as is their right.

63. If you have bestowed a favor, then gratitude is deserved,
Either you have plucked it away with its arrow, or drowned it.

64. I praise you sincerely with the right of your praise,
It is enough for the sublime if you speak and are believed.

65. How many hands you have that cannot fulfill their rights,
No riding beast limped from sores and faltered.

66. You have exhausted my expressions, and made gratitude obligatory by
Repeatedly benefiting me, so enrich me through your generosity and make me articulate.

67. Take it as the light of a dear friend greeted you,
The morning breeze blew it delicately and it scattered about.

68. It refuses concealment without pretense,
Who can prevent musk from diffusing fragrance?

69. An innocent girl who does not falsely praise you,
Nor describes loyalty fawningly.

70. She praises a beloved, al-Walid, and chooses
For the eternity of your pride Akhtal and Farazdaq.

71. It is as if the warbling of the singing bird echoes in her,
And the lover of wine melts within her.

72. And as if the days of youthfulness are gentleness in her,
And the separation and meeting of companions.

73. Eloquence has testified to your praise, so she does not see
Except an eloquent one splitting open in your eulogy.

74. So when has the riding company ever sung a song or recited a poem
And not found praise of you inauspicious or ominous?

75. Pearls increase in value and gain more nobility
When they are carefully selected pearls.

76. Whoever spends the night asking his Lord for a wish,
I ask Allah to prolong your remaining here.