1. Is there no relief for me from those I love, O Sa'd, most fortunate?
No helper when they attack and gain victory?

2. I blamed the virgins for holding back, yet said not
"Why, my darling, is my lot from the whites so dark?"

3. No wonder the old man took to the young,
For such was his custom, and he is but mortal.

4. Dark yet soft-skinned like the gazelle,
His waist so slender it would slip from a bracelet and unwind.

5. He took up the sword against a warrior, not knowing
That it was my blood, from his heart, he adorned himself with.

6. His cheeks are rose, his glances basil, his mouth
Wine and pearls of speech.

7. How many poets have had their glory destroyed
When there appeared in their verses bombast and raving?

8. He captured me as a prince captures his steeds,
The brave knight of King al-Mansur, while the horses stampeded.

9. Support for the religion of God, triumph over enemies,
And resolve - thus did al-Mushrifi, the inspired, describe him.

10. The clouds pour forth freely when they intend to rain,
And their pouring is but turbulence and cloudburst.

11. For a line of verse, a house; for his generosity, property -
Until he was emptied of estate and means.

12. For those who travel by night he is the full moon,
Whenever the night grows long and dark.

13. Loud-voiced, when the son of ‘Abbas and his servant speak,
And the cool drink grows cold in the jar from their eloquence.

14. A king with two seas of knowledge, who attains
Whatever of this the breast pours forth, of that the hand gives.

15. And two fires for war when he aids, and for homesteads -
Each fire kindled by him blazes up.

16. He is the sayl, the son of sayl, and the excellent stock
When one master among them passes on, another arises.

17. Succours when they are generous, lions when they pounce -
For them there are attainments ever renewed and glory rebuilt.

18. Supporter of God’s religion, I remain your supporter
In a time when the literary man is suppressed.

19. If Hassân was eminent in praise of Muhammad,
Among my people I am an honoured poet now disfavoured,

20. And each enemy of mine is a vile slanderer.
Pour out your favour upon me, do not say

21. “That bounty which once was given is gone.”
For had this poetry been composed in the past

22. Humâd would have transmitted it in Umayyad times, and Ma‘bad would have sung it,
Since in every land it continues to be sung

23. Before kings, and declaimed.
No king is hoped for and feared except you,

24. No poet loved and praised except me.