1. My heart's embers, kindled by her glance,
Still burn though parted by vast distance.

2. Her moon-like beauty tore me asunder -
She leaned down from a bough in grandeur.

3. My heart's pieces danced in pleasure
To her voice - I wept as I heard her.

4. Is a youth's heart in its bloom affected
By a drunken, love-sick, weeping bard?

5. Wherever the lovelorn shed their blood,
Whether far or near, it's understood -

6. The ships tell tales of arrows in droves
That from the bows the cutlasses drove.

7. Leaving a trail where the horsemen raced,
Their blood made the dust turn soggy and laced.

8. Ghosts wander there, their heads all bowed down,
As if drunk, or just out of the town.

9. Passion once joined their bodies in full,
And they were one flesh, one body, one soul.

10. They rode seeking love though it hurt them inside,
And so changed the valleys for mountainous rides.

11. At the highlands of passion they stopped by a pond,
Gazing, as if looking for someone beyond.

12. They let their tears and their songs linger there,
Pausing by the pond, singing in the air.

13. Hearing birdsong from the thicket around,
Their hearts left their bodies with nary a sound.

14. You riders, avoid where they ambush and wait!
Don't let your pure hearts meet such a fate.

15. Beware of those meadows - though luring, they hide
Cutthroats who thirst for the blood of your pride.

16. How many pure souls fell for the trap,
Just for a sash the color of wine in his wrap!

17. For lovers, hearts flutter and fly like birds -
The meadows are stained with their blood when they're stirred.

18. The flowers dyed red by the blood of the slain -
How to reach them through carnage and pain?

19. A flirtatious breeze that passed by one day
Cut up my heart which knew only her sway.

20. I knew from her scent that the breeze in its course
Had gone by that place which was my heart's source.

21. With the passion lit up in me from her air,
My ribs hold embers with no need to fan or flare.

22. Restless yearning allows no reprise -
No closeness contents, no distance supplies.

23. Closeness evokes barriers, distance causes pain,
Both equally wrench at the lover's heart and drain.

24. One glance she left me on the day we parted -
It was mine in spite of me, no reward but pain.

25. How long were the nights after she went away!
I tossed and turned sleepless til break of day.

26. Lightning slept as I lay awake in the dark -
The birds in the nest ignored my heart's spark.

27. My eyes were raw, my tears kept on streaming,
An eternal flood with no sign of receding.

28. The stars pitied the tears they'd seen me cry,
Mocked by enemies exulting in my agony.

29. I cut the night short with a teardrop's gleam -
May you be blessed with life as long as my dream!

30. The clouds were disturbed as if my weeping eyes
Had stuffed them with embers, or thorns for the skies.

31. Dawn emerged and I left it my gloom for a shroud -
A widow in black, bleak-faced from the clouds.

32. It was as if they'd smeared its bright cheerful face
With my lot, or inked it all over the place.

33. Thoughts wandered untamed like glorious knights -
No critics could make them toe bounds or toe lines.

34. Eloquence wove them a garland bejeweled -
No laurels from others those fair brows bespeckled.

35. All who heard were compelled to sing praises aloud -
Let alone when recited clear, proper and proud.

36. It captured the woes of my passion's first blooms,
My reproaches that fortune so often entombs.

37. Time and passion both worked hard to squeeze
The cure from my heart; no doctor could please.

38. Pitiless days unsheathed sharp swords that gashed
At the noble and free, the best of our past.

39. So arm yourself well with patience and calm -
In hardship, endurance protects best from harm.

40. No greater trouble for man than the thirst
To gain all he dreams - an impossible search!

41. Be content with your lot - that is treasure untold.
Sovereignty belongs to those free of its hold.

42. If self-sufficing, you need no glory or fame -
Not base men's renown! Steer clear of their game!

43. Ill-fortune still hatches its sinister plots
Against those who walk upright, care nothing for plots.

44. Fate struck at my dreams leaving hopes unfulfilled -
I refused to bow down, my spirit unstilled.

45. You wronged me, oh time, but I will not complain!
I am bound by the honor my forefathers maintained.

46. With sorrow you burned up my heart from within,
You chained down my fortune, imprisoned my kin.

47. Exiled far from family, friends, all I held dear,
I returned my sword to its scabbard from fear.

48. The finest are ruined; barely rescued, they run
To disaster, no triumph to cast their eyes on.

49. As if called to doom, they raced like the wind,
Spurred ahead by the voice that drove them half-blind.

50. Gone are their homes, now havens for thieves,
For newcomers with no family leaves.

51. An outcast am I, no one here for befriending,
Captive with nowhere to turn, no rescuer pending.

52. Only the love that I feel for Muhammad's line -
Through them I hope to break free of confine.

53. My poor poems in praise of that house are the thing
I can offer when comes the day of reckoning.