1. A lonely author among thousands
Whose passion set my heart aflame, nothing else could soothe me

2. A sacred time, the essence of nights for a ardently loving youth
The long nights reminded him of the time of intimacy

3. He came to erase some of the youthfulness that was in me
From cups wiped clean and widely spaced

4. The clouds drew their tails over them
And spilt their soil, the palms of the rain-clouds

5. Will the gathering of its people see separation?
And will the gathering of my tears see unity?

6. No, and nothing shook from the motes of tents
Above what shook from the groaning camel-litters

7. We did not turn our longing from it
Nor did the strangeness of intention deafen us to return

8. A wilderness as if the night had spread
Its wings over its riding-beasts

9. The milestones of its travel were hard for us
Between stumbling and exertion

10. Bestowals whose poetry adorned the one
Whom the days had adorned with the jewels of chastity

11. A sea of generosity by which the seas seem
Like gravel or pebbles when measured against it

12. He who examines opinions, a door is opened
To his consideration from every solemn discourse

13. The ties of valor do not flinch from reaching
The ruddy gazelle with crimson extremities

14. Every day there remains for abundance from it
An event like the event of Al-Jiḥḥāf

15. If pens were inclined for a moment
They would take the place of spears and swords

16. Drinks from which the turtle-doves sip
Between an open space and a rugged, waterless desert

17. With meanings intricately woven in words
Which the tongues of describers fall short of

18. And a system as if derived from the light
Of gardens with green enclosures

19. Say to Abu al-Ḥusayn, the soil of dew, outstanding
In noble deeds and granting aid

20. Since we saw you as the Kaaba of generosity
We have directed our pilgrimage of rhymed prose to you

21. The diversions of frivolity have been pure for me
Since I cast off from my shoulders the burden of rhymes

22. You have warded from me the plunderers of cares
When they descended between ardor and infatuation

23. Fulfilling what you promised, not like people
Who clothed their promises in the garb of betrayal

24. And you made me eminent when I cast
My poetry as a wreath upon the noblest

25. An ancestry among whom were kings
Who inherited their reign from their forefathers

26. Except that the superiority of their merit
They did not acknowledge the merit of an Abd Manaf's servant

27. Ask them, if you inquire of this lineage
When Sabur of broad shoulders traveled to it

28. In defenders who humility lessened through them
Crookedness that roams the stretch with slender crookedness

29. And Tamim when it gave bows to Chosroes
Seeking justice and equity

30. And likewise al-Nu'man remained so
Until they left him provision for the wide-extending vultures

31. And long ago no hands and feet were cut
For the Banu Asfar due to disagreement

32. I have among you a protectiveness that allowed
My rejoicing in your glory and sheltering in you

33. If my gratitude to you is the gratitude of Banu Ḍabba
From a barefoot shod there in sandals

34. Bestow on me now from you a share like my share
From your brother of righteous conduct, the reconciler

35. You two are equal in generosity and munificence
And forms are not distinguished by delusions

36. The worth of the world is little to you
So you do not distinguish between spending and wasting

37. Except that extravagance is disliked
And extravagance in glory is not extravagance