1. My heart is ruled by passion, not by my reason
It pursues the aloof beauty recklessly

2. When will I recover from my agony and bear it
If my heart is set on her body while it’s in my own

3. Congratulations to Salma, for my fervent longing
When taking vows, I mentioned her name but forgot mine

4. The morning we stopped, passion divided between us
According to what we stipulated and tradition sanctioned

5. When those languorous gazelles gazed at the stars
That left my eyelids among the enemies like stars left behind

6. So I wept pearls over her throat
And she wept with the sickness in her eyelids

7. My friend, is there after graying an excuse
For the ignorant or in love, a preoccupation for the wise

8. Is there a life we dressed in previously
Like the days of Yazid in the abodes of Banu Jarm

9. Is there for me any share of loyalty from a friend
With the power of a judge and the resistance of an opponent

10. The gentleness of grievance appeared in his gestures
While your stony harshness crept into his sides

11. As the calligrapher is disturbed in the tumult of battle
And the dying gasp in its pipe falls silent

12. He chided me for losing my youth but he only
Exposed himself when he saw I don't shoot

13. And he didn't know that if I wished, I would have borne him
On his saddle strap, for the carrier is like an arrow

14. And he tasked his eyes with destroying my love
He will know, if he doesn't ransom me, the debt

15. Abu Ja'far, these are favors and nobility
As a rightful prayer and a claim based on knowledge

16. I see people have sold out virtue so buy it back
And lost any trace of dignity

17. And you are the most deserving of resolve so be resolute
Wool and high lineage are most similar to resolve

18. You are high of purpose, close of help
Noble of nature, glorious of kith and kin

19. A father, if he does not redress wrong, is redressed
Without gossip or false oaths and sins

20. And most generous is he whose aid is hoped
To dispel adversity when the child is not soothed by his mother's gentleness

21. And most discerning of men's minds against passion
Most prudent behind events against delusion

22. And most protective of the bastions of glory from decay
Most munificent with the hopes of souls against tyranny

23. With determination that if equaled would bow down
Haughtiness between humiliation and defeat

24. You have excelled in being above any deficiency
In a manner that makes you equal to the daughter of generosity

25. Never have I seen from you, neither face nor hand
When the free but famished man had something savory

26. Most patient in the darknesses of every ugliness
Where patience is more relieving of sorrow

27. When the horses raced in the meadow and were
Goaded to climb up the hill, raging

28. You saw them only stumbling in their blood
Wary of an insignificant word or defending every word

29. And no fortress but the sword in the hand of a hero
Who sees death as booty next to glory

30. There, speak of Ubayy and Ja'far
And Abd al-Malik the most noble in rank

31. You were named for the merit for which you are worthy
While the blameworthy is more deserving of blame

32. And you were clothed in the mantle of ministry
For which those glories stand as insignia

33. And a family of your ancestral fortune grows you
Isn't pride what it grew and what it grows?

34. Brave heroes, esteemed nobles
Like desert lions in war, like scales in peace

35. When they rode the steeds to battle
You saw the fierce lionesses on the necks

36. My poetry will come to you going every course
On a noble she-camel or an arrow

37. In return for your abundant favors, I
Have excelled in avoiding the disgrace of begging

38. How many gifts have filled my hands from you
And blessings more worthy of my verse than blessings

39. Congratulations on the feast for which you are the feast
And a feast for what they spin of prose and verse

40. The sealed stone kept its distance so favor me
With your auspices and give me a way to kiss it