1. It is longing, until nearness and distance become equal,
And loyalty of affection, as if hearts were united as one.

2. My eyes did not sleep, disturbed by passion,
Nor did the fire, ignited by my cheeks, subside.

3. Oh! For the sake of my beloved's eyes, the youths marched on,
Along the path of Al-Jur'a, where the covenant was folded.

4. One evening they brought me closer, and sent my beloved away,
Against my will, which pleased them and saddened me with the distance.

5. Remember a life whose unfolding was folded by fate,
And a happiness that was blown away by the solitary, singular winds.

6. My friend, is this Najd, or am I dreaming?
My eyes have lied to me, what is this Najd?

7. Yes, this is Najd, so where are its antelopes?
They are veiled by death which has killed them, so they are lost.

8. What have those blood veins done after us?
And how have those slender twigs melted away?

9. The hands of time have ruined its perfect beauty,
And the accidents of fate have woven it a shroud.

10. As if the separation were lost in its plains,
Or hated it in the depths of my soul.

11. It has been eternally stilled from what has destroyed it,
Oh paradise, it has lost its eternity in our hearts.

12. My friend, your affection was sincere,
Was there any jest between us, if there was no seriousness?

13. I wake in the dark night, whose stars
Are veiled, so why have not their eyes slept?

14. As if God on high placed the moon in the sky,
A heeded King, and the stars are his soldiers.

15. As if the night sky is a well-kept garden,
Its fruits are musk, its flowers pearls.

16. As if the darkness, lightning, and flowers are a brunette
Adorned by the lightning, whose smile is pearls.

17. As if the Pleiades are a palmful of coins
Pouring golden dinars on the back of the Hyades.

18. As if the stars are confused,
Like ships with no destination in their course.

19. As if the flashing of lightning in the darkness
Is clarity in a heart filled with hatred.

20. As if fate is a mystery, and darkness a courtyard,
As if wishes are an infant, and hopes a cradle.

21. As if meanings that come to my mind
Are flirtatious maidens who have visited without promise.

22. As if the darkness and dawn unwrap their bond,
A relationship anchored in the places of wisdom.

23. As if the cactus asked the morning about the beloved
A secret the old man revealed, unlike the deceitful.

24. As if my aspirations for glory and fate below it
Are a phantom I hope for unlike the unlucky.

25. As if one wades through the belly of darkness
And utters to me from within its unique essence.

26. As if the spontaneous meanings that come to my mind
Are maidens who visited without a promised return.

27. As if the sword of faith promised his son
To seek the heights, and he did not break his vow.

28. He took on the burden of struggle to seek the heights,
And for him who reaches comfort, his sword is sharp.

29. And how often the antelope’s eyes came between the hunter
And his constant skill to shoot arrows, not spears.

30. They confided in me, praising his determination
That through him issues are resolved and decisions made.

31. That the heights are humbled at his doorstep,
And that conclusions end at his judgment.

32. His comforts are for the enemies, and his restraint
From here is poison, and from here is honey.

33. Among the people are those who protected the sanctuary of supremacy,
Virtuous and struck by tribulations without fatigue.

34. There lies the place I cast off might and conflict,
And cast off the staff of travel, and settled in glory.

35. A garden of virtue that does not yellow,
And a sea of generosity with no shore to repel.

36. A page of manners that pleases the morning breeze,
And might that hurls its prey like lions.

37. We reaped the harvest of his constant toil for a time,
And his shade of kindness remains stretched over us.

38. He left and I still have witnesses of his generosity,
And how strange that after them I still have this fondness.

39. He went away, and the cheer of affinity was not spent at his home,
Nor was the door of generosity shut.

40. Oh the inclined orbit that melted my heart’s liver
You are still a coldness in my heart despite the distance.

41. Loyalty without promise from fate, since before
Constantinople, there was no promise of reunion.

42. I tend to the wishes – may God keep you verdant,
Tell me, has the plant of your wishes soured or withered?

43. Congratulations to Roman Constantinople, for she has fulfilled
Her appointment, and the sword returned to its sheath.

44. May God show me there, taking refuge
At its threshold, as delegation crowds after delegation.

45. To you, O Master of Virtue, our course was set,
Like stars traversing the horizon, with crowds seeking you.

46. Her meanings are lawful magic – and it is enough
That this magic praises you, even for opponents.

47. As if her rhymes are hairless youths
Whose waist is a string of pearls and chest a coat of mail.

48. Halab congratulates you for the feast you have graced it with
Since you came, with good fortune introducing you.

49. Joy poured over Damascus, so it celebrated
Its feast, and so did the cities, wilderness, and Najd.