1. Ask the sly driver to stop a while,
Can he restrain himself for an hour?

2. For in the house are doe-eyed gazelles,
Weak fawns with sad eyes.

3. And thirsty ones who have not intertwined
Except dreams and tears in cups.

4. Their souls knew not that the appointed time for ecstasy
Is dawn when they breathe freely.

5. Go easy on them, for they are a delegation of passion
Satisfied whether you visit or avoid.

6. You left behind their bodies
And ahead of you are their souls.

7. Show them some sympathy, for even if they do not breathe
The morning breeze in the meadows.

8. They would drown you in a tear after tear
And burn you with breath upon breath.

9. Where do you want to speed from the stable of al-ḥajar
Crossing the rough and steep terrain?

10. What fault do you find in the water of palm trees
When you arrive third or fifth?

11. The camels are generous but crafty,
They give their faces but guard their touch.

12. They raided the baggage until they left
Nothing for the white gazelle but shyness or withdrawal.

13. From their smiling lips emerges
The bud they call al-la‘asa.

14. A necklace - though unknown to me before -
I came to know through observation.

15. O is there a way to reach those cheeks?
To melt this arid yearning?

16. Or a glimpse of that crescent,
Fully or secretly?

17. Rather, all past youth's prime is permitted
White or blackened from the sun's rays.

18. It is futile for the hand to seek bounty
While the leg is empty and the rod erect.

19. You blamed me for my isolation when you saw
A flood of gray hair attacking ferociously.

20. I denied it when billowy and shining,
But acknowledged it when white and lackluster.

21. Her white eyes have lived in blackness
So dawn was confused with dusk upon them.

22. When I wrap myself in it, drunk,
I am not dyed by its color.

23. It drives me away like pebbles
Censure of eyes, blue and fiery.

24. My prime was not the first or best age
In which my time was happiest.

25. He who was never generous or stingy
And never softened towards me but was harsh.

26. I am accustomed to his ways, training myself
To his two ways, or taking precautions.

27. I swore by the twisting necks, hardship
Became difficult, roads narrowed.

28. Every back above which is a back
Bent from frequent drinking sprees.

29. From every smooth dune obeying the plow
Not repeating it or becoming plowed again.

30. They gamble with hazards against their souls
For students, whether prominent or insignificant.

31. They struggle, casting aside shame,
In the delegation seeking the finest soft garment.

32. If death separates them, it will not separate what
Was heaped or folded from land.

33. Until they deliver the farewells in Mina
Glorifying or sanctifying God.

34. No share is lost whose fortune relies
On the pillar of all the pillars.

35. Most wondrous, worries do not watch over
What he protected, nor does an assault enfeeble.

36. Brighter than the smile of eventide that made
The cheeks of the young gazelle in the soil grin.

37. Blessed is the deal in which wealth quivers
For all he greeted or touched.

38. Kissing reveals fingers
That if they hit rocks would spark.

39. He was generous to ease, but when I lost
The gifts of ease, he generously lost.

40. He does not count money covering
A naked shame even garments do not cover.

41. Keener to turn away than his resolve
Deaf to the finest oratory.

42. When he aims for his goal in his mind
Certainty beyond his suffices for conjecture.

43. He said and then surpassed the mute in speech
As he surpassed speakers when silent.

44. He sought his right from the heights
Until he surpassed the stars and sat down.

45. Venerated in his seat, whether he
Inclined or settled in a corner comfortably.

46. When eloquent, his companion feels lonesome,
His cheerfulness pouring over them, comforting.

47. He defended the two caliphs’ view
Against the critics of the legacy.

48. He deserted the enemy for them
Victorious however much he attacked.

49. God’s caliphate he ascended to construct
It from one whose father laid its foundation.

50. His planning purified it, leaving
No impurity for people facing it.

51. He surmounted every cunning snake
Deaf even if not coiled around him.

52. How justice you have extracted from the blind eye
And removed confusion from the perplexed!

53. You spent your inheritance obeying it
As Job harvested what he planted.

54. You forbid those coveting it through Persian
Or protect it from the non-Arab.

55. You who revived the era, following
Its exemplary traditions neglected.

56. Your people, you followed their endeavor
As buttons follow loops.

57. The heights have glorified you and thanked
Your shining through that lasting nobility.

58. Through you my fire rose and my winds blew violently
And my rod straightened and was clothed.

59. My virtues hoped for my time
While I despaired of their fairness.

60. If my land withered, you poured copious rain,
Or if my state darkened, you ignited a flame.

61. Your ease has partnered me while hardship - you see -
Wrongs the heights and cheats them if cheated.

62. Do not hoard gifts regretting them
Or be stingy with what you find most precious.

63. So no blow of events strikes me in you
Or flashing of alarming news cuts me down.

64. You never cease to gentle the rugged days against me
And the harsh roads I tread.

65. The beginnings of your blessings return to me
When I feel lonely, comforting me.

66. With hospitality they prefer me over my equals
I do not take off the robe until clothed anew.

67. The arrival of its timing watched over me this year,
And to see its release withheld.

68. Far be from your evil omen against vows
From its established course to be erased!

69. My debt - and in winter - is surplus
Clarifying ambiguities.

70. So allow it and listen submissively
To soaring hopes.

71. It folds the empty desert, neither marching
A she-camel nor saddling a horse.

72. Do not frighten the army during its march
If darkened, nor fear the guard.

73. It will be whatever you wish, every morning
A blessed feast, wedding.

74. It feels safe and protected
From men, all women dread.

75. Nothing written or read leaves
Anything for others, marked or studied.

76. It intercedes for Nayrūz in what came
From accepting you seeking aid.

77. Then its like returns upon you
With one thousand feasts, Arabs and Persians.

78. In blessings, certainty instead of “perhaps” and “if only”
Suffices nights.