1. Let us draw light from those ships
That only adorned themselves with flowers of stars

2. And moons that sing with the tunes of life
Rising from their crescents and setting in their dusks

3. The darkness of night sailed on, its waves abundant,
With no traces but fleeting glimpses

4. I continued to shed seas of my tears
On sailing seas darker than their depths

5. None passed me by except a lightning bolt that stole my determination
With the swiftness of lightning, late into the night it came

6. It shone like Canopus, and Canopus paled before it
While the Big Dipper and Ursa Minor dimmed

7. O heart! How that lightning glittered!
My eyelids fluttered to avert its glare

8. O doves that weep, though I have become
A slain victim of longing, and it is my confidant

9. We are destined for the tips of spears, for we
Have all recoiled from the glances of the loves

10. We are a people whose souls the gazes of the beauties fear
More than the spear, sword and blade

11. Hardships befall us, but we spurn them
With pouring tears more copious than rains

12. Loyal to a time that pleaded for us
In the black of nights, alongside the white of gazelles

13. How many dark nights have I spent
Burdened by worries in their overlapping darkness?

14. If an arrow is shot by the glances of a damsel
It is likened to the bow of an eyebrow

15. I inhaled the fragrance of the morning breeze from her breath
And avoided the heat of summer and winter

16. Whenever the darkness fell, I donned it
As a cloak over the flowing tresses of curls

17. The stars in her sky had blinded me
To the stars in her jewelry adorning her neck

18. When I attained union, its branches bore fruit,
A delicious harvest of intimacy

19. That beauty slipped from my fetters,
And the fulfillment of hopes deserted my pursuits

20. The days changed until even
My kin changed, betraying and shunning me

21. The caprice of time taught me
That acquiring people is the worst profit

22. Whenever I parted with a friend, I would weep for him
With the weeping of one attacked by calamities

23. So now if I sense the journey of one returning,
I welcome him with the joy of one arriving

24. No dust carried a nobler youth
Than one who pelted the banners of glory with calamities

25. No hands accompanied me in the darkness of travel
More righteous and loyal than the soft sand dunes

26. No watchmen roamed the highlands more vigilantly
To praise the name of the dutiful son

27. A flame - if the night wore its light -
Would replace its garb with the clothes of darkness

28. A garden of knowledge poured forth its valleys
With fresh dew for the art of eloquence

29. It grew toward the heights, nurtured by the great ashes
Of every glowing ember, the elite scions

30. Some people erected their glory with gifts
That show even the lofty clouds as lesser gifts

31. Elite Ghassanids, with prestigious lineages,
Assumed the highest positions in the great state

32. Yet they are most determined against their enemies
Like the firm mountains weathering tribulations

33. They disciplined the days until their sins fortified themselves
With the beauty of consequences

34. And they perfected the heights after they had been
Enclosures, adorning them with the finest virtues

35. Among their fortunate stars are the auspices of Talib
And the best companion, the Master of Laws

36. To you, Abu Hafs, I raised from censure
Pure brides adorned in wondrous jewelry

37. Judgments so lucid that if darkness donned them
It could dispense with stars as its source of light

38. If I am absent from a land that bid farewell to me
Its messengers believe I am not absent

39. And if I recite them, Mercury sheds tears of love
For their beautiful meanings, if he were my scribe

40. Honored, so that her integrity not be disgraced
By the roughness of one hidden or the scowl of a brow

41. I possess a mind that cannot be swayed by blame
Or hope for the robe of a patron through poetry

42. Aloof from worries, aspiring for knowledge and
Virtuous gains, not vain desires

43. To it, little and much are equal
It envisions the green seas as blue as eyelids

44. And I clothed it in the honor of contentment
A cloak my resolve selected, stripping all else

45. If on the night of departure, the lamps of homes are lit
They equal for it the fires of sweethearts

46. I sent you, in disgrace, one who did not
Elevate you above your lineage and status

47. But I adorned the fruits of my reason
With your gentle nature and virtues