1. This is an unguarded moment, O Abu Isaac
Dangerous for the wicked

2. A preoccupation that does not distract you from a friend
Whose patience has reached its limit

3. Each day becomes the prince of a gathering
That brings together love or a prisoner of separation

4. With the crescent moon seen on the horizon
Beyond all other horizons

5. And with the one whose appearance to you
Is a vision of yearning and longing

6. Apart from you, justice has not been preferred since you
Have been, but your enemies have wronged you

7. Seldom do hearts remain healthy
With the war of cups and goblets

8. I did not call out except with intimacy
And does the bitten one have any recourse but the healer?

9. Take me by my forelock before the sun races ahead
And the trick of the shield dissolves

10. What of my two friends, envied by the people
Of Iraq altogether?

11. Deprived of their share of the just king
Who softened hearts and necks

12. The best of poetry married the best of people
So no noble dowry befits her