1. I learned melodies from the inspiration of leaves,
And youth took from me passion and love.

2. My companions found love in your affection,
So I became a slave to love for your sake.

3. Nothing remains for me but lovesickness for you.
So love what I have wasted, and leave my soul what remains.

4. My life is in you - were I to die from passion!
And in you is my bliss in love, though I suffer.

5. Whoever does not find his soul obedient to your command
And seeks a life that neither lives nor remains,

6. O my loved ones! If only what is between us is effort,
And whoever casts false words meets what he has cast.

7. I clung to you as a child, and were it not for your love
I would not know what passion and love are.

8. My youth reminds me of the wilderness and plains
When I sing your name upon the leaves.

9. And I ask the breeze about your sweet scattering,
And when lost, I inhale your traces from the roads.

10. And if the Yemeni lightning flickers at night,
My heart increases in its fervent beating.

11. And why do not my tears flow like pouring rain
When I smell your land from afar?

12. And if this tear continues flowing, o youth,
I fear the drowned will become many.

13. And I weep not but for the blaze in my ribs -
Perhaps it may extinguish my burnt pinions.

14. What good can amulets and incantations do
When I have a tear that does not dry?

15. So gently, O kind one, gently with a passionate lover,
And be kind to one led by passion to kindness.

16. With you I have an ancient covenant and pact,
For the Messenger of Allah is my firm pact.

17. A prophet whom Allah chose for Himself,
A beloved, and were it not for him existence would not have been created.

18. A prophet who came from the noblest of lineages,
Ask his clan and it will tell you the truth.

19. A prophet who came with the truth as a mercy to creation,
So joy to one who followed and embraced the truth.

20. A prophet by whom the Merciful swore an oath, and his name
Is derived from praise and the Quran, and was thus coined.

21. A prophet who tomorrow will lead in the race of merit,
So who can compete with him when he has won the race?

22. A prophet over whom a cloud provided shade
When traveling west at noon or east.

23. A prophet for whom the sun was brought back as a sign,
And the moon at its zenith split open for him.

24. A prophet to whom gazelles hastened,
Then turned back with his light filling the horizon.

25. A prophet who restored the lost eye,
And it gushed forth as a fountain from his fingers.

26. A prophet who ascended by night to the Throne, and thus ascended
A lofty position none before him ever attained.

27. A prophet who prayed atop the seven heavens,
Truly attaining an abode and leading them in prayer.

28. A prophet who came near, to two bow lengths’ distance,
And attained the ultimate limit, and truly saw the Truth.

29. So describe and relate the loftiness of his rank,
For every lofty description of his praise is true.

30. Leave off every other praise in existence but his praise,
For that is mistake, and does not distinguish the difference.

31. For him is the fragrant Garden of Beauty, a paradise,
Where whoever enters is never hungry or suffering.

32. O excellence! Blessed are you for what you contain
Of the Most High's abode - for him is the ascent.

33. Will I see my dusty life return verdant?
And the black pupil see again its blueness?

34. Will my blessed earth crack open, its perfume redolent,
Diffusing like musk, giving me relief?

35. And I sing facing his tomb - O Best of Creation!
A slave has come to your door seeking emancipation.

36. Ask that tear, weeping in humility,
Cast down in pleading - at dawn it was cast.

37. Far be it from you! One who seeks you will not return disappointed,
And your most loyal attainer has the safest place.

38. Perhaps a king's son will be cured by your glance,
And on the Day of Great Thirst drink from your overflowing pool.

39. And through you achieve his aims in both abodes,
Easy for your towering glory.

40. For in that Abode of Eternity he hopes for your generosity,
And with this, hopes for a good conclusion.

41. Upon you, blessings of God, then His peace,
Blessings forever enduring through all time.

42. And upon your family and companions whenever
Passionate yearning was stirred by nightingales among leaves.