1. Take another look at my cheek, that mole,
Lest the jasmine wither upon the rose.

2. Take my tears for them; let them drink of my tears,
For my tears bring no reprieve, no cure.

3. Else, in the wine-cup there is solace
To take the place of water for you or me.

4. In your sweet spittle, were it a garden
Sprinkled with camphor, musk, and basil, too,

5. My youth’s water would have been a sweeter spring
Had the nights not jostled you from the flowers.

6. I care not if you are deceitful in your affection,
If it passes, but my rapture depends on your love.

7. Does the fanciful specter visit you each night
With a sword’s edge or the piercing of frost?

8. He vies with the night to come to me if only
Drowsiness or a wakeful critic were not my wardens.

9. He has learned from me the pleasures of love,
Yet, the wretch! Why does he not honor his vow?

10. Reunion seems easy to him while he stays aloof,
And the easiest thing when one draws near is rejection.

11. One night he came to me while I slept a brief sleep,
And I and the stars were expecting him.

12. He pressed between my neck and neck,
And nothing is sweeter than a visit after absence.

13. But the gloom of night glimpsed him
As the gleam of white appears in the black hair.

14. It saw my tears as red and my hair white
And deemed my slenderness and sallow cheeks too great.

15. It wished that I were its necklace and sash,
Though it could not bear the weight of sash and necklace.

16. It blamed its stinginess and wakefulness
Though this yearning was more worthy of blame.

17. It turned away, so do not ask after me anymore,
But ask the days about my state after him.

18. Some people vary in fortune and its paths:
One thrives on greed and another on abstinence.

19. As for me and Al-Hadhrami we
Divided the heights between us from valley to plateau.

20. I have guarded the standard of poetry,
While the son of Isa defended power and glory.

21. A man who does not care who gains supremacy
If his hands are full of praise.

22. A sword that outshines all other swords in itself
When it prides itself on its fine blades and sheaths.

23. A brilliant star that gives good fortune whenever it rises
Announcing good fortunes and showering prosperity.

24. A highland that does not please any but the highest summit
But some words are dearer to the right path than others.

25. Radwa is lofty but she is not like a towering landmark
Visible from a barren pass or an open plain.

26. How many a mountain in the land has a higher summit
And protects more fiercely if its ravines could avail.

27. At Mount Sinai they had its likeness
In clear error and purposeful misguidance.

28. But Radwa took her highest flight,
And we have not seen better assistance of determination.

29. It is a sea in which you see minds plunged
Seeking the hidden pearls of discourse and composition.

30. Its expanse receded and its swells subsided;
Every ship stems from hope and affection.

31. So ply its coast when it is still,
Through stilled, glistening sands.

32. And if it rages and the belt of stars appears, approach it,
For stars are flowers in the cold darkness.

33. I have attained with Isa the limits of every glory,
So I thrive whether given or deprived.

34. Leave Malik be till you see how his effort goes,
For neither of you is one who did not err in the cradle.

35. Glory to you both - its origin and branches -
Circulating between son, father, and grandfather.

36. The rhymes of poetry came to you as envoys of passion.
Some rhymes of poetry are luckier than the envoys.

37. Good omens for you if the feast approaches
On the auspicious bird and fortunate ascendant.

38. Time has come covering the earth, and fate is inclined
To the easiest luck between your union and separation.

39. My lord, I have not valued you as I ought,
But the effort of poems is not the effort of me.

40. There remains only that you forgive the summarizer,
For the generosity of the Master is forgiving the slave.