1. After the caravan had departed, she paid you short, fleeting visits,
How much closer they would have been, were it not for her aloofness!

2. She visited while the wings of night recounted her tale,
And the dawn light bid her farewell, telling of her.

3. How did she find her way when the night was dark?
Were it not for the radiance of her face guiding her in the night.

4. She was veiled in the darkness, hiding her beauty,
Yet hardly had the cloak of darkness hidden her.

5. My soul is ransom for you, for an apparition I enjoyed,
And a night that fulfilled my soul’s wishes.

6. How much sweeter it would have been, were it not for her reluctance
To visit us, how much more wondrous, were it not for her leaving.

7. Leave this be, like the slopes of a sand dune shifted
By a dusty wind, its features blurred, its paths obscured.

8. As though it and the insubstantial mirage that lifts it
Were a sea of flags with waves surging inside it.

9. I traversed its slopes in the evening gloom,
Its whispered conversations hushed, its paths unclear.

10. Her tresses flowed long, her braid extended,
Her setting hid them, her guide led the way.

11. Like an eagle who saw elevated prey,
She swooped down from the heights in a steep dive,

12. To a young hero whom the world saw his hand
Rain down like clouds when they unleash their burdens.

13. Al-Mudarrisi Al-Humaydi whom the wilderness acknowledged,
Both far and near.

14. When you see our glory rising high,
With strong architecture, know that Abu Al-Ulwan built it.

15. My soul and all that my hands possess are ransom for a king
Whose fame my poetry spreads in my recitals, besotted.

16. A man who considers it trivial, when asked for bounty,
To grant the world and all that is in it.

17. He hoards wealth only through giving it away,
And the best treasures are those he distributes.

18. He irrigated the vast and fragrant plain where he dwells,
Transforming it into a home with courtyards and meadows.

19. To Sura where mountains are tamed for him,
From its monasteries to its lofty watchtowers,

20. To Mulayha where springs flow
From the morn to the wadis of its valleys.

21. His might protected it from enemies and scattered them,
Even the fierce beasts in its outskirts and environs.

22. O you whom the subjects spend the night praising
After the grace of God, their Creator.

23. The world gains more pride in you when it looks upon you,
For you are part of its family.

24. It knows not that it and creation are one,
And you, O all of God's creation, are its second.

25. How many favors I owe you that I cannot repay,
And blessings you bestowed after God, their Granter.

26. How many eulogies I composed for you, solidly structured,
As if they were pearls in their depiction and detail.

27. They travel east and west while remaining steadfast,
Time passes yet they endure, nothing makes them perish.