1. Leave lamenting behind the howdahs of departure,
And ask your heart about every bygone.

2. With the white swords, red lances,
In the yellow shawls and black coats.

3. Life is naught but when you string
With the mouth of the beloved, love knots.

4. I caution you against standing at the sand dunes
Where echo repeats its responsive cries,

5. Imposing speech on deaf rocks,
For in the madness of love are many wonders.

6. Had you complained of sincere passion,
Vain wishes would not have given you false hopes.

7. Look how cups of wine catch fire,
See water freeze and wine melt.

8. In the decanter is the dance of youth,
And when poured its separation is the graying of blossoms.

9. It foams in anger when taken
Out of the cask, like the chaste veiled ones.

10. As if gems on their heads
Were crowned in braids.

11. The Magi rightly believed
Prostrating to fire is a duty.

12. We and our entertainer bear witness
To the marriage of the daughter of the vine to the son of clouds.

13. So from drops of spray, scattering,
And from the down of spring buds, ranks,

14. Gardens green as the blossoms of heaven,
And their flowers like the stars' bloom.

15. For the beasts are flocks in the valleys,
And for the birds in its skies a lineage chronicled.

16. We went out to shoot in an arena
Of beautiful faces and delicate wrists.

17. Their rifles in the eyes of the archers
Like their eyebrows under their bows' curvature.

18. One has a bird in the sky,
And the other a bird of the heart obligated.

19. The meteors broke through,
Sparks amidst the clash of planets.

20. They have claws like snakes'
And talons like scorpions' stings.

21. So for the horizon a hawk takes down its prey,
While another bird flees death in escape.

22. He unleashed a dog, vicious of breed,
Racing the zephyrs and tailwinds.

23. Four winds speed it,
Panting with nostrils flaring.

24. In the night of its mantle, the radiance
Of a piercing star-beam ignites.

25. Back we returned, dragging joy's train,
Birds and beasts filling the baggage.

26. As the royal procession rejoiced
When Moses returned leading the caravan.

27. A king, when he rides amidst the swords,
You see the moon amidst the planets' convergence.

28. From under the procession, lions
With claws from their manes protrude.

29. Such is the blossom of stars,
And the wing-span of time wraps all.

30. It appeared and the strongholds collapsed into dust
As pearls line up atop the shawls.

31. They summon him in various tongues
Like pilgrims beckoning from every side.

32. They are frightened by the flash of iron blades
And tempted by the downpour of gifts.

33. The war beasts eye his banners
Patrolling and returning rapacious.

34. As if their citadels are their lairs,
So many clans above those headbands!

35. O king of the land, rightly towards you
Lead the directions of its east and west.

36. You will rule the land of Constantinople
That which the Romans cannot match.

37. It is as if I see its towers crumble
And the catapults' boulders pelt within.

38. The siege-tower crept like a bride
Dragging towards it the battalions' trains.

39. Its garb is naught but iron mesh
And its jewelry naught but the arrows' white.

40. The cannons ignited with gunpowder filling,
And smoke billowed like the wings of gloom.

41. But I do not divine the future,
For your party, by God, is victorious.

42. God gives you supporters fighting
With scripture or battalions contending.

43. For the court of justice on judgement day
Is no more rightful than the darkness of black nights.

44. So stand, giving support to the weak,
Show them the wonders of generous bestowal.