1. Leave my love be, for your beauty is unparalleled,
And cease your teasing glances that make my heart unsettled.

2. Return my heart, O daughter of Sulami,
For you have filled it with more love than it can handle.

3. I disobeyed wisdom in our days of joy,
And never disobeyed the advice when it tried to employ,

4. Look upon my temple - you will find lines
Whose erasure was perfected by time’s hands,

5. Lines whitened by the nights,
But blackened by dashed hopes’ blights.

6. I love all honest men, sheltered and safe of tongue,
Who pardon sin and exercise patience for all wrong,

7. And I hate all gossiping, grumbling, mean souls
Who love to spread tales while playing their roles.

8. Oh, what a wretched talk - a talk of lies,
That so-and-so narrates from so-and-so, a guise!

9. By night I beat its sides with my belt and clothes,
Till its shape is obscured by the darkness that grows.

10. Sweat pours from its skin, the color of smoke,
From the cracks amidst the smoldering cloak.

11. I say to lads who sneak out at night while Layla sleeps,
As they head out on adventures while neighborhood silence keeps:

12. “Your necks droop and you lean on soft pillows,
Now rouse, and to Abu Ulwan let your camels bellows!

13. Mount your decorated steeds, make haste!
Cut through the dusty winding waste,

14. Till you reach Aleppo; there pause and rest,
Savoring the most delicious and joyous fest.”

15. On camels whose skin resemble shades of dye,
As though pieces of leather stitched side by side.

16. They saw trees of virtue fruitfully bear,
And boughs of bliss - the greenest welfare,

17. My two friends! Look here - an old man who stands,
Whose feet the seas and mountains kiss as they expand,

18. Peerless in his generosity - nowhere else exists,
One with greater virtue or noble traits persists.

19. The blessed feast has passed while I was gone,
And people have, ahead of me, their congratulations won.

20. Why don’t the poets act nicely in my absence
And cease their blaming tongues from such nonsense?

21. They came but did not change their usual ways,
And though numerous, did not fill my place,

22. How they tried to catch up! But their minds never led
To anything resembling what I’ve said.

23. They blamed me for poverty, criticized my situation,
Mocked my beauty from a biased estimation.

24. But Abu Mani’, though he keeps in touch,
Is not like one who has been graced as such.

25. The two kings adored me, but beauty lies
In he who sees me with his own eyes.

26. Had I been tested with a member of Hashim,
The sullen ones are clan of Abdulmadan.

27. He would have triumphed over me, though he bore
What I gave him, but look at whom I was forced before!

28. I taught him archery, day after day,
Until his arm grew strong, and he drove me away.

29. Live long, O Pride of Kings, for I
Through your life, am safe from time sailing by.

30. With you I fear no trials, for it matters not
If all abandon me, as long as you have not.

31. It will be known these words will stay
Beyond all rhythm within lays.

32. So live - if your fame lasts, so lasts mine,
And if your stature grows, so grows mine.