1. My heart was captivated by the alluring glance of the maid's eyes,
So tears welled up despite my efforts to restrain them.

2. Her cheeks blushed a deeper red than the anemones in the meadows,
While her brows frowned with coquetry, kindling my passion.

3. My heart was spellbound by her glances and I failed to disenchant it
Until the critics rebuked this obsession of mine.

4. So I avoided the slander of the critics? tongues,
Though slander may make the best of men its target.

5. When she demurely peered through her veil,
I saw her features give me a secret sign to return.

6. So when she glanced at me with a question in her eyes,
I let my eyebrows give the answer.

7. Then I noticed her shyly glancing about,
Fearing the spies and the envious gaze.

8. So I took refuge behind the dunes?
Indeed, the wilderness harbors both unevenness and dunes.

9. She unveiled her face, whose veil
Concealed her cheeks and denied me the vision.

10. So I remained perplexed and bewildered,
Wondering if I pitied or envied the passionate youth.

11. Indeed, passion holds an excruciating pang
That troubles the calm and brings unrest.

12. It excites desire in the devout hermit
Until he sees devotion as a stigma.

13. It drives away his sanity and leaves him
Weeping with desire in the meadows of youth.

14. He longs to hear the answer from these meadows,
But the youthful meadows prolong the answer.

15. The first glance of passion is sweet, but prolonged
Sweetness turns into torture for him who tastes it.

16. If the youth?s passion was for someone else,
He would not be considered violated by the canon of passion.

17. My friend reproached me when he realized
My confusion, censuring me with contempt.

18. ?O perplexed wanderer,? he said,
?Climb the ladder of guidance and good counsel.

19. ?And examine the sublime, gentle law
That can never be matched or duplicated.

20. And avoid misguidance and innovations? paths
That alter and change the fundamentals.

21. ?And attain mastery of the manifest and hidden knowledge
That answers questions and responds to queries.

22. And reach the exalted abode and the firm handhold,
And the refuge of widows held in good esteem.

23. ?And the abundant oasis with lasting springs
And the spacious hall of hospitality.

24. And the copious rain that dispels distress
And wards off affliction with propitious downpour.

25. ?Imitating in word and deed the followers
Who resemble each other like crows resemble crows.

26. He who ghosts the caravan and contents the bold,
And facilely accomplishes feats of great difficulty.

27. ?A home is but a home, yet when you enter it,
You will not find a doorman barring its gate.

28. And when you enter it, you enter peace and prosperity
And fertile land of hidden treasures.

29. ?Indeed, if you knew the sanctity of that home,
You would wish for no other home but it.

30. It protects a man from snakes? venom,
Wild animals, water, and ravenous wolves.

31. ?With justice, it makes punishment a relief
If it gets severe, and relief a punishment,

32. And rugged boulders into soft sand dunes,
And pure, delicate sand into unbreakable rocks.

33. ?Such is a decree and wisdom particular to Him;
With it, one need not fear randomness and severity.

34. ?Muhammad had no flaw but that
In obeying God, he was extremely rigorous.

35. ?A scholar, practitioner, man of letters and taste,
A poet whose discourse holds all rhetoric spellbound.

36. Poetry draws nearby meanings and distant ones
Whenever it calls them, they dutifully respond.

37. Would that I attain what I wish,
And replace old-age that white hair has claimed with youth!

38. ?If he is a youth, then pride lies prostrate
At the soles of his feet in submission.

39. Without him today the gate to all glory is closed;
Without him we have no access to glorious deeds.

40. ?He differed from people regarding alms,
But such difference only brought him greater reward.

41. He made every season a year for almsgiving,
Finding in each amount of wealth a due portion.

42. ?O people, he was a mother to you all,
Never did he reproach or rebuke you.

43. He followed the flawless Sunna in upholding
Your rights, mindful of Scripture and human dignity.

44. ?So pray earnestly for an extended lifetime for him
In serving the Sublime Scripture!

45. ?O fleeting world, if you reflected on your evanescence,
You would lament your disappearance.

46. ?You would waver, abandon your amusements,
Estrange your friends and loved ones.

47. ?You would implore the Giver to grant longevity
To that virtuous, handsome youth of generosity.

48. ?And you would plead through the Prophet and those
Who in his defense fought many battles as his comrades

49. ?That he be showered with perpetual blessings from his Lord
Which time can never fail to bring forth in abundance."