1. If he had wanted, he could have stopped the departure one night,
Yet he who knows my right denies and refuses to admit.

2. Since we parted and fantasies have fluttered around it
So dreams fall as nonsense that cannot be grasped.

3. With eyes that slip, who seeks what is lost
Except with regret, will not attain it.

4. He has kept me awake while he who promised me
Slept in the calm of desire and inclination.

5. Whenever he renews a wrong that has oppressed me
I pardon his past wrongs and those that came before.

6. If it were said the people of passion and their actions
Offended me, my heart would shudder and tremble.

7. Ask the lightning, the most vigilant of the vigilant,
Speaking of the living, how it hides.

8. Was it from the eyelids of the settled ones it was taken
Or from the bosoms of the settled women it was snatched?

9. Ask a branch among them about whom I complain of ardour
And its heaviness when he walks complaining of frailty.

10. He made me doubtful about what was straightforward and bent,
Does not killing me please him or intimacy?

11. Diversion distracted him, so if you speak to him,
His beauty turns from you and is aloof.

12. As if he never saw a wrapped up camel litter
Or a full moon darkened during an eclipse.

13. Every thing has a diminishing affliction
When it ends, and the affliction of beauty is impudence.

14. He told me that I was suspicious after him,
So passions of yearning spoke and he swore,

15. "If he reveals the secret, I will abandon him,"
So chastise with other than abandonment, for abandonment is excess.

16. What fault could an envious one find in your love for me?
He only raised his eyes aspiring to be glanced at.

17. And a transmitter to you of what I never said
May God afflict him with the sin he committed!

18. O heedless ones, avoid me when
I allow myself to be led by passion.

19. They knew that when love holds me back
I take revenge with forbearance.

20. I am like a boulder against stubbornness
If I twist my neck, I do not turn back.

21. My soul does not cease to turn away from desire
As long as it lasts, nor does it go back when it turns away.

22. I was clement with the people of this world, all of them,
With a clemency that has no regrets or sorrow.

23. I found them, with their stinginess and my restraint,
Beneath me, both the wealthy and the noble among them.

24. I did not fear them inasmuch as I did not want them;
You do not fear a thing unless you want it.

25. One hand was enough to provide me sustenance
While all the people together retreated from me.

26. God's eye did not pasture a companion for me,
So my hopes are all at variance.

27. It is the same whether I gain something from a master
Or the pure among them, the firm and the weak.

28. I found in him what I sought from him
But did not find it though he is the dearest and most steadfast.

29. There is no gear to be twisted or temperament
That changes with the diverse colors of time.

30. And tranquility on the hillsides of gazelles
Or in the open hand of generosity is light.

31. A troop on the day of calamity and in plenty
Both full to the brim.

32. Look at him and examine what he possesses;
Delicate outward appearances reveal.

33. A radiant face whose water is bliss
And a complexion in which luxury is not corrupt.

34. I blame only the envious of his perfection
Envying the sun is elevation and nobility.

35. Say to the critic of glory, presenting
An ambiguous name whose syntax does not turn away,

36. "The neighbor of Abu al-Qasim has more right to the first step
In learning, so let him proceed then stop."

37. He did not undertake it as a short or long one;
Loftiness is a test for one with strong shoulders.

38. Listen, Banu ‘Abd al-Rahim, these are
The daughters of a natural talent not stained by deception.

39. Love sends them forth in your praise,
Praise of hope, not like the praise of passion.

40. Remaining in your memory, not resting
For a homeland, ceaselessly active.

41. From its lines they turn white or green
With the light of your features, blackened pages.

42. Reciters chant from it a mantle
Or from the gardens of sadness, a bright gazelle.

43. I like the domination in them when
They rise to describe your elevation.

44. They bring you every day of joy
Eyes full of wonder and a glance.

45. They wander protectively around your honor
Guarding their protectorate and turning about.

46. If they miss a holiday, another comes after
For you with the qualities of the previous and renewed.

47. The envious ones cannot impugn me with you
Whether or not I have fulfilled their beauties.

48. My heart is trusted with your affection
As long as it is trusted with the chaste pearl.