1. You have awakened in me longing of old
And memories of that easy life

2. And days we adorned with beauty
And danced for it the dance of bliss

3. We filled them with us, beautifully, so they were
Like a well-strung necklace, in the prime of time

4. And gallant youths in fine raiment
Wearing garments of tasteful elegance

5. They have manners sweeter than wishes
And more delightful than intimacies with boon companions

6. Like your anxiety about manners and propriety
Though you are of most noble character

7. I invited them to intimacy, and they came
With the response of the generous to the generous

8. And they came like rain-clouds that poured down abundantly
On a thirst and rushed like the breeze

9. And the night would frolic in its youth
Playing with the stars and planets

10. So we continued passing the cup of comfort until
The eyes could see the lights of dawn

11. And we followed the opinion of Ibn Hani
And joined the ranks of the doomed

12. And a gazelle from the elegant Misrs
Eloquent, with a wine-colored cheek

13. And a Babylonian glance, with languor
As if its lashes held the mark of the orphan

14. They entertained us in conversation with tales
That made us forget the daughter of the vineyards

15. Greetings of God, O age of refinement
Upon you and the youths of the ancient covenant

16. I yearn for them, and beyond them lies only wilderness
As if its expanse were the heart of the forbearing

17. As if its barrenness were the vitals
Of one in passionate love, inflamed with anguish

18. As if its mirage, when it appeared in it
Were a deception that appeared in the face of the wretched

19. Its night leads astray with flames that tell
Of the people of the valley of the lost

20. And the one gone astray wanders in it confused
When the emigration from hell is related

21. So who will grant me to see those pleasures
And the ancient beauty that is in them?

22. For the lot of the son of David is not like my lot
Nor have I been given any knowledge of the All-Knowing

23. Nor am I free like thought taken captive
So I can outstrip the clouds in speed

24. Rather, my journey is fettered
By the fetter of nothingness in the valley of sorrows

25. I traveled from the dwellings, seeking my fortune
Wandering in the desolate valleys and hills

26. And I left no desert in the Sudan
Without soaking my garment in its dust

27. And here I am between the jaws of death
And beneath the fearful calamities

28. And were it not for a chapter on glory I have
I would be content with my life like the ignorant

29. O son of the two most noble fathers
And son of the pillar of upright religion

30. Your people established you as a pillar for our faith
With lineage reaching the Pillar of the Sacred House

31. The dissolute have not circumambulated it and returned
With anything but unseemliness and vileness

32. I came to you, though hardships urge on my departure
And I am in a state more wretched than fenugreek

33. And I have become from my toil and labors
For livelihoods like a worn-out garment

34. So do not, may I be ransomed for you, make my face forbidden
Or cut off the intimacy of affection