1. O abode of my love with the date palms, who has ever settled
In your fragrant oasis after being pierced

2. Silent yet articulate, estranged
Yet intimate, and bitter yet full of yearning

3. We walked together, and my pledge to you was a source of bliss
Yesterday we promised, today in a place of grief

4. The gazelles resembled houris when they dwelt in you
No other dwelling can compare to this dwelling

5. I know it though I pretended
To my companions that it was another's abode

6. O my friend, help me, and if I am healed
Along with my skin, tell the semi-healer to assist

7. Stand crying in it, and if you are a brother
Console it for your sake and for mine

8. On the day we departed I had no tears left
To cry with on the day the buckets creaked

9. O time that passed as you intended
With the bier, if youth returns then return

10. And life is in the palm of the pitcher, going
With its head, led without any bridle

11. And my friend, every young man offering aid
Before fate apprehended him, he apprehended

12. With me, to what brought him joy or harm
Out of love, so it could be said a sincere friend

13. There is no good in me that he broadcast
Through his efforts, but blemishes he buried

14. And he carried the burdens of sins, carrying
In his glance and palm the sword of trials

15. He wrote poetry on his cheek though
How ugly turning away is for a beautiful face

16. He fashions from what he chooses a place of worship
The like of which no chieftain ever attained

17. Molded and enchanted by his eyes with a clay
Of one essence, and Babylon is the mother of cities

18. Her goblet gives off the fragrance of musk
When she drinks, and her mouth when it recites

19. As if Muhammad ibn Ja'far Abu Al-Hasan crafted them both
They said it was time to depart, so I wiped a tear

20. That exceeded the extent of my raiment and saddlebags
Every day an intention that informs me

21. Of its misery, that bliss lies in the homeland
O my journey, where does fate desire me to go

22. And who of the people, I wonder, has wished
I said, he who has been generous to me in my fate

23. So I care not for another, no matter how tight-fisted
One who excels in glory due to his determination

24. How many a numerous group gathered but did not excel
A hand that hits its target wherever it turns

25. Intentionally, while many an archer missed the mark
It combines lethal force and munificence, attributed

26. Rarely to any but the fainthearted
He eased booty and spoils, and his

27. Wisdom, if weighed, would outweigh a mammoth
O soul, good tidings, he is Muhammad

28. The sweetly flowing drink, and most melodious fulfillment
I have no right with a miserly deficient

29. Man, even if he amasses wealth and hoards
He is ignorant of me intuitively, and his

30. Ignorance of me only increases as he is tested
I do not envy the wealthy what he possesses

31. Of goodness, though his honor fades
I do not think little of fate to appear

32. The same whether I prosper or struggle
I have my chastity from it, and what it granted him,

33. And the best of us leaves the hard life
And money is sweet, and what makes

34. It bitter for me is that worries follow it
Contentment protected my countenance's waters

35. How many a desirous one did not find or store
Fate tricks me with its procrastinations

36. Against them - but can an eyelid be tricked against drowsiness?
How numerous are those complaining of their life in the world

37. I wonder, for whom is this life?
And I have examined people in their states

38. But did not find anyone pleased with fate
They made complaining a way for their stinginess

39. Apologizing in luxury for ordeals
Therefore I never glimpsed amongst them a flash

40. That makes off with Damascus, or a day with Yemen
My slightest fear is that I will lose my way amongst them

41. And water, if rare, even a cistern will protect
Were it not for you, no longing would have spurred my hopes

42. For any request the conviction of which doubt erased
I came to you to gift it though I was stingy toward it

43. A maiden whose veils are not removed except by the astute
A resistance who before you agreed no man

44. As a spouse, nor did I agree to any matchmakers for her
Of what I invented none were bought

45. By banditry, though they rode poetry roughshod
When a man told her reciters to repeat

46. It would enchant him as if he said “sing”
So take what you wish of it and divide glory

47. That I gain from it to fatten my leanness
Kind deeds made incumbent by your love for me

48. Its principles enacted, as the noble proceeds as is befitting
Since among people it is between one who made

49. No effort, and one whose effort gained no yield
They took great pains over it after they had aged

50. While I suckled it along with milk