1. Does he requite estrangement with estrangement
And meet betrayal with betrayal?

2. A brother of patience - what patience! -
When patience is needed.

3. The intoxication of passion gives no headaches;
Rather, it enhances intoxication.

4. The wine of passion causes no next-day pain;
Rather, it enhances the wine.

5. Riding the rugged terrain, the rider
Finds it the most rugged terrain.

6. And loving evil is better than
Abandoning evil for evil,

7. For the little therein is not paltry
In the eye of the paltry.

8. In this excuse for the excuser
Is the best of excuses.

9. So leave this be, and strew the pearls -
Strew them most beautifully.

10. And give the innocent one - for if
You give innocence to the innocent...

11. With the sea of words and deeds,
With love of the noble for the noble,

12. Then say and strew - for the strewing of words
Is a strewing like no other strewing -

13. "Abu Bakr, Abu Bakr,
A loyal friend to Abu Bakr,

14. Like the full moon that outshone
The dimness on the Night of Power,

15. A sea that parts the very sea
When measured against the sea,

16. When will a flooded one ever beget
A flooded one, a brother of the flooded one?

17. "A youth from glorious Hashim -
Glorious! Glorious! -

18. The pearl of honor built
From a pearl upon pearls.

19. "His worth transcended bounds, so he transcended
The bounds of worth through worth.

20. Tomorrow, he will be a pillar for
The people of time throughout time,

21. An auspicious one who brought me endless glory
Above all glory, above all glory,

22. And when he did good unto me -
Above all good, upon good -

23. Then he adorned me with pride
Above all pride, above all pride,

24. And he wreathed me with gratitude -
Above all gratitude, above all gratitude."

25. The rainclouds watered - Ibn Isma'il -
After the rainclouds, by the rainclouds!

26. A knight whose open hand vies not
In generosity with its flow,

27. With a heart beyond all hearts
And a chest beyond all chests.

28. A plenteous raincloud, beyond all rain,
An ocean, beyond all oceans.

29. And I make a vow - and a vow
I shall fulfill - by this vow:

30. He who dons the mantle of righteousness
From cloak to cloak...

31. I have made him heir to my poetry -
My poetry beyond all poetry!

32. The vanguards saluted him
From Egypt to Egypt.

33. He is the flower - and what flower
When measured against the flower?

34. He is the magic - and what magic
When measured against the magic?

35. He is the fragrance - but fragrance
Is enhanced by the fragrance.