1. The lightning flashed and sorrows arose,
And tears flowed copiously from the eyes.

2. It provoked desire until overabundance.
The lightning rouses desire with its flashing.

3. My enemy gloated all night long,
Stirring up grief and igniting sorrow's blaze.

4. No place was safe from his thieving and raiding,
He ransacked and pillaged without shame.

5. I spent the night in anguish, should it have returned,
My anguish would have intensified still more.

6. He hid and emerged through the night,
Laden with overflowing buckets, a disgraceful burden.

7. He watered the road and its crossings, even the rivulet,
Until they all became a muddy, turbid flow.

8. He circled the barren plain, emerging
Like a lion from its den, submissive and humbled.

9. With his mischief, tales spread about him,
Until he was given to drink his fill of infamy.

10. He watered the palms till they flourished,
Refreshing the earth and slaking the thirst of the desolate place.

11. He watered the whole valley, transgressing,
Stirring up torrents and floods in his wake.

12. It sounded like the clash of armies,
Battalions meeting opposing battalions.

13. Then he turned to the wells until he filled them,
Pouring down a flood that overwhelmed the cisterns.

14. He watered the hill's slopes, then the crossings,
Then the meadows, then the well-known rivulet.

15. Then the turtles, then Al-Quwaysi, then Al-Tayyib,
Then Al-Qass, then the old donkey.

16. From him the North was set flowing,
Until every place was left soggy and drowned.

17. He inundated the wide plain,
And the White Land, and Al-Mudayyir, and the ruined village.

18. The hillsides became like flooded marshes,
Adorned with the necklaces of blooming gardens.

19. Then he came to Al-'Uqul while it overflowed with distress,
And spent the night submerging its lands.

20. The meadows smelled of perfume, diffusing it
Whenever the breeze blew gently through.

21. In Al-'Uqul I have an unfulfilled desire,
That has not ceased since I yearned for it.

22. Whenever I turned away, restraining my passion,
It burdened me with torment beyond any before.

23. And when I thought I'd awakened cured
Of the pain of love, I found I was not cured.

24. And when I wished to pine away in passion,
My soul refused to allow me to pine.

25. I am afflicted by a maiden who captivated me
And clothed me in delightful, painful love.

26. She is my life's core, and my remedy -
If she would love me with sincere affection.

27. My friend and confidante asked "And who is she,
Worthy for me to answer the confidante?"

28. I said "She is the chaste maiden." He replied "Why
Have you not asked about her?" I said "You have spoken gravely."

29. Do not ask me about the chaste maiden,
Loyalty is not to divulge affection.

30. How many men have been blamed for their passion, yet found no
Fault in asking, wishing they had not been blamed.

31. With the maiden is a gentle musical air,
That leaves no heart untouched within the chests.

32. Scattered and outspread, bubbling,
Kindling the flames of passion and flashing lightning.

33. Delicate build, slender waist, rippling curls,
Bracelets and armbands engraved.

34. A slender form, swaying, undulating gait,
Swiveling hips, petite feet.

35. Such as confounds the minds of poets,
Wandering perplexed, their wills broken.

36. You would hear only the winds' voices within it,
Except for the cooing ringdove and the whistling gale.

37. You hear the owl lamenting its desolation,
And the echo answering the owl.

38. It is frightening yet perplexingly enchanting,
Leading astray the steps of one who would prove it true.

39. Perils unknown hide within it,
Should the intimate friend be exposed to suspicion.

40. I left it with lingering sorrow, compressed -
If I returned its sorrow would disperse.

41. It crosses the waste like a dread specter,
Rustling, hissing, and wailing in the night.

42. And it circles the plain softly, lightly,
Pivoting and pacing measured steps.

43. This is for one experienced with ordeals,
Capable of stringing the thread when it breaks.

44. And if I wished to compose verse
For the disreputable one who befriends the disreputable.

45. She carried it to him, then came to him
And saw some of the perversions of the depraved.

46. He is the traitor, the cheat, the villain, the thief,
The fraud, who mimics the pigs in nature.

47. The lands are weary of him, east and west,
And he has become to its people an ill omen.

48. All who see him conceal themselves,
And hide from him, and are wary of his evil.

49. The people have experienced his misfortune, so they shunned him,
Reviled him, and labeled him disgraced.

50. And called him the despicable, the base, the ignorant fool,
The good-for-nothing, the degenerate, the condemned.

51. The defective, the foul-mouthed, the corrupt, the coward,
The brute, the flawed, the sinful wretch.

52. O ally of adultery, O son of a dog,
You barked at the stars when you howled.

53. You were not of human form or nature
Until you were assumed to be of noble origin.

54. You and the state you are in bear witness,
And the proof of your state convicts you.

55. Evil qualities took form and came in
The shape of an ape, then copied its features.

56. Your religion is blasphemy and your nature is greed,
You are not of goodness and guidance, not honorable.

57. It is difficult to satirize you, when you yourself
Are satire - to satirize satire suits you well.

58. You said you made a clear mistake
In referring to the crescent as an amulet.

59. But the crescent amulet is no mistake
If you had looked into language and understood.

60. It is you, you who have made mistakes again and again,
And you have always been a leader in mistakes.

61. You were neither a reader nor a scholar,
Chewing rags and eating dried hides.

62. Rather, you habitually chewed almonds,
Ignorance trained your speech to babble.

63. I said, when you intended a subtle melody,
You made the lute into an intimate companion -

64. We never knew the lute to be a companion before!
Your ignorance in the melody sufficed as subversion.

65. If you are unschooled, you cannot be blamed,
You are not to be blamed in all you undertake.

66. You are misguided, and the origin of your origin misguided,
Misguided too - is that not enough misguidance!

67. There is in your wretched poem a brief
Provocation that endures for all time.

68. You made the rhyme letter meem - my response
Will make your rhyme letter meem as well!

69. And beware of affectation and absurdity,
And forced meaning - consider well your meaning.

70. And beware of inclination, of support, of implied censure,
Of magical charms and amulets.