1. I returned secretly where yearning dwelled
The moon traveled, a specter guided through the darkness

2. It would not have journeyed had it not known my time and destination
To my distant tomb, clad in mourning’s robes

3. My longing for it pleased it though we were apart
Thus was it when we were together, ere we were torn

4. I chided it though hope despaired, greedy
It answered while my heart grew bolder, impassioned

5. I indulged it until I claimed its heart
What bliss - a gentle, tender union

6. I remained as though fate relinquished its reins
To me, and blessed me, and I attained my aim

7. It judged me from its bounty though idle
So my tears graced the goblets’ brims

8. Until the dawn reproached, like a raven
Of longing, yet not black

9. It renewed the memories forged in youth
What pacts can equal those we made?

10. Would that its memory remained a lesson
That I might weep, or would that my fortitude remained

11. My friend, we did not stint sincere advice
But, confused, how can fate be guided?

12. Can time mend after spoiling?
My life retains no morn, so spoiled

13. Wrong heaped on me, harm spread wide
The hands of a horde unfearing of God

14. Their hearts granite toward good
Their arrows for evil loosed from a black maw

15. May man destroy what harm has built
If pleasure lies in the Cornerstone, sublime, sublime

16. An imam who lifted faith from its stumbles
And revived its efforts, law of Ahmad

17. His wishes are the meadows’ fruits
His pens sing like larks

18. To his judgments fate itself bowed
By his pens time and fate are guided

19. In each heart his voice reached, his might
Hope, promises, and fear of threats are dreamed

20. The Nile flows generously though weeping
Among men it surges from mound and dike

21. The shooting stars grasp his sword of justice
Without the flash of his sword none would grasp

22. Had each been tasked beyond capacity
All would strive like hunters seeking waterholes

23. With the darkness of injustice it is as though
Skeptic whisperings in hearts of pure belief

24. The full moon of justice rose in its expanses
A face radiant, resolute, lightning-branded

25. Clad in a gown of propriety, virtuous guide
Girdled by a sea of virtues, churning foam

26. Determinations shone and every skeptic vanished
It stood so I sufficed, though destitute before

27. Its hands ransacked the treasure houses
And returned each refugee from the sublime

28. Its pens now read verses praising it
Bowing down, and whoso deserves praise, praised

29. O pillar of God’s faith, O shrine whereby
The anguished are safe from every aggressor

30. I did wrong, and have none but your door for refuge
Take my hand, and succeed my aim with your grace

31. Below it strange wonders tell of its order
Scattered pearls in braids of twisted hair

32. As though their meanings were strands in its lines
Necklaces gleaming over rumpled hair

33. Congratulations on the feast heralded
The enemies’ time, but arriving at the best waterhole

34. Never have I ceased to circle your grace
Pilgrimage for rhymes and undying praise

35. Never have I failed in bliss and prosperity
With utmost veneration and aloof dignity