1. Ask the caravan, if you are granted your wish, will the caravan give it to you?
The pretty anklet prevents it, though her delicate ankle is vanquished by its softness,

2. And it fortifies her against being possessed by the overpowering lion.
They protected her, melting away, lest she be shot at, but they did not protect the hearts in love from her glances, nor did they melt away.

3. And they shook the deadly lance and the swords around her, so who is the suitor when the obstacle is spears and blows?
They fear the voice of dishonor, lest it makes them a talk in the mornings, and the mouths of the seasons blame them.

4. Dishonor is nothing but that the hearts of lovers lie between their houses, plundered and robbed.
If they find fault with her for being visited, between us are covenants: the distance of the house if it is observed as near,

5. And if she is veiled while the wind lays bare between us, the whispers of our hearts are not bothered by the veil.
In her house, for the beholder, are the smiles of the moonlight that clouds negate.

6. And from it and from her companions in the land of cares are glances that the morning breeze sends to me and motes.
I stood while my companions were in the twistings, so my standing stopped them until I stood while there were no companions.

7. I converse with the mirror of my day about its people, so it complains what I complain and pours as I pour.
I did not reckon the ruins would be subdued by pining, nor that the body of the desert encampment would be undone by love.

8. Speak, O lightning of the land of care, of what you have seen, for you are a narrator not accused of lying.
And say, about a breast burning from her heat and fluttering, you have learned what pours forth perils and bubbles up.

9. And about a body that desire has not ceased to denude, and its ribs to join rib,
That if it were in the eyelid of a pregnant gazelle, instead of a speck, it would not be cast out by blinking.

10. Yet this body and heart of mine are stingy toward her, so how would it be if my heart were in my body?
I was created with the clay of loyalty and its religion, so my soul inclines to it instinctively.

11. How many a sleeper from me, whose bedding is down, while my side for him from the softness of his bedding comes alive!
I patiently spend the night with him until I provoke him, so that my eyelids envy my wakefulness in the dawn.

12. And I am amazed by what I told him, that a truce a knight concluded, in which the noble Arabs were disgraced.
My excuse for the days has soured for me and the places of sweet drinking have become bitter.

13. A people whose roughness and foolishness alternate with me, and my share of their livelihood is barrenness.
I relinquish to them her bounty and riches, so I am content without humiliation with what exasperated sinews.

14. And I leave her with the abandonment of a reconciler, able to make peace with her while she is forever war to me.
And how I complained of fate if it were a complainant, and reproached the injustice of fortune if reproach were of use.

15. Yes, in my hands, not ungrateful to God, are a side of honor in which are amplitude and breadth.
And a spring of generosity that if I were content, its pouring water would quench my thirst and remedies lead to recovery.

16. My atmosphere is accustomed to its clouds and breeze, and I am pleased it thrives and grows upon it.
Save me from delusion, O seeker of heights, and from laboring my hopes to arise or fall.

17. If it were not for the merciful dew, the gentle rain, no water would have flowed to my abode, nor would dust have greened for me.
The people are forgetful of me and the time is theirs. My springtime and earnings are their approval - that is the earning.

18. I made myself at home with them and outfitted myself with their feathers, so my nest is wherever the water and vegetation are equal.
And sufficient for me, rich or poor, is that their sea and master in calamities are enough for me.

19. To the honor of religion we hastened, grasping its ropes which hug during the shaking of the path and intertwine.
The tethers of what the two verdant ones have strained, and greyhounds have won it while dogs have ascended.

20. The daughters of distinction and wind - every beautiful woman - the straight winds and sidewinds come to her.
Like the course of an outstretched staff - if its holes were threaded, no hole would be too narrow for it.

21. It curbs the curb in the curb from the twistings, and if it is struck smooth with filing, you say it is the filing.
It comes up to it while it is a heart from the twistings, and it is ridden away from while it is a clenched fist.

22. To a king whom fear does not conquer in his breast with fluttering, nor does distress overcome his opinion.
He is not pleased by confusion in his miracles when the intoxication of the bewildered overwhelms him with self-admiration.

23. Awe-inspiring when pleased, disregarding anger - speech does not attain what the eloquent fluent one attains.
Encompassing the horizons of perception with his opinion intuitively, while the people's opinion is obscured and stupid.

24. When its curtains are lifted for permission, radiance is for the eyes and fresh scent for the nostrils.
A place where blessings and beloved terror meet, and sobriety and awe come together.

25. If you command it once angrily, its rejection of you is of refined, gentle nature.
It imagines from excellence, forbearance, and attainment, so in the hand are the full moon, sea, and lion.

26. Among the people, no protection money was imposed on them, nor did any but their Creator subjugate them.
The breasts of brave hearts in the sittings and commotion - when they are wide open they overflow, and when ignited they blaze.

27. The pillar of the state extended power firmly, so the man of strikes told of hitting the heights while the necks strike.
The mother of planets did not know before it and before them that the crescent belongs to it or it has a consequence.

28. That the rising of the sun will end through them to a king in whose breast are East and West.
I saw the kingdom after decline - its channels stood firm and its people clung to it after the people dispersed.

29. For you the pure white flood - if its dawn dies while the relief is in your hands if distress binds.
The mother of ministries knew that if you are absent, its palace will be bereaved of tears and lamentations.

30. And it fans the hopes of the wishful groom for marrying it - hopes that exhaust him while you are the suitor.
They crept scorpions for it in the darkness, and if they had reckoned the treading of the insignificant, they would not have crept.

31. And when they saw your immediate care for it, hastily they donned clothes and feet while nimble jumping wears out feet.
You surmounted the thorns of their criticism with the virtue of forbearance, so the viper died while the garment was mended.

32. They poisoned it when they plotted, so they were punished, while your view of them is good, and they are the withered grass.
And they attempted what only breach approves, while the girdle and clothing reject it, deceptively.

33. Apart from it, it is more likely for the lion to request a truce from the wolf or the wolf to cry from thirst.
Their dreams tell the deluded of wishes that its back is for riding, but they lie when they rage.

34. Reconcile it, for no part of its day is wretched for you, while you are the pole for it.
It has not ceased to drag honorably among you, robes that clouds do not conceal its tatters.

35. You brought together the scattered domain of the kingdom after its diffusion, and furnished it safely when the flocks panicked.
You continue to render its ruggedness easy with management until the easy and rugged were equal.

36. Those in fear of you in obedience love you affectionately, and the strangest thing is fear combined with love.
If hearts recoiled from you, your tongue - this sweet one - or your juicy face would return them.

37. There is no eyelid but you are its blackness, no liver but you are its cover.
As for rhymes, since you have pastured them, they are the interiors of a valley whose years are fertile.

38. Its shoulders are vegetation and its drinking places are meadows. Its lisps are young and its fluent parts are springy.
Pure of smoothness like paint, and our custom with them among a people while they are rough and mange-covered.

39. And how many virgin ones I have led for your praise whose chastity then failed, which are audacious and insolent by nature.
They come to you on days of celebration with their caravans repeating garments, while deformation and bending weaken them.

40. Tidings of a kingdom whose sincerity in you is not unknown to have a pillar or minaret shortened for it.
And that the outstretched hand of God is a canopy protecting you and making the partisans of good fortune a party for you.

41. My heart visits you through it like my speech, so there is no cheating feared for it nor stupidity.
And I praise one who gave to you from his tongue and pleased you - the one whose heart pours for you.

42. So do not deprive them of unveiled brides, for which your hands have necklaces or hearts.
When peers walked around a bargain, so I singled her out in beauty - she has no like.

43. I am passionate about it while nature runs its course through it, the sweetness of delicate gurgling that appears to be play.
While others suspect me, if I praise it, knowing it is not permitted to usurp it.

44. I raise it through action if it were an actor, though the Lord debased it from its deficiency.
It is as if by praise I insult it - by my father's life, hypocrisy itself is insult.