1. She is a gazelle, without her necklace and anklets
Or a branch, without its bending and tendrils

2. The breeze of allure moves her, and her softness,
While chastity holds her, so she sways

3. She quivers in the leaves of vitality when she walks
Igniting longing for her in the suitors

4. The moon and the slender one tried to liken her
Yet she is matchless, nothing can equal

5. So moon, turn away, you are pretentious
And slender one, bow, you are withering

6. When she glides over the rug, straight is her branch
Ascending or descending, she is poised

7. I lent the darkness her allure, content
With her radiance instead of their sun

8. Far from the desire of suitors, her glance is
Polished and her eye cuts down the warrior

9. Magic lies hidden in her eyelids
While she narrates forbidden sorcery of Babel

10. My heart is filled with youth because of her
While my body wastes with passion and grief

11. Were it not for my weeping at night and dawn
The doves would not sing above the thickets

12. I have a sigh from her heat that ignited a flame
And a barrage from her valley's edge gushing

13. I have a tenderness the breeze narrated of her
And a wound that dislocated all my joints

14. May God tend to a life green as the meadows of Baghdad
And water it with abundant rain from al-Muzann

15. I spent the days of your happiness fulfilling her desires
And for you produced some hopes

16. I gave the youth their due in this
And in it roused the heedless days and time

17. My friend, why does time treat a young man
Contrary to all the wise sayings

18. It lowers his worth though knowing
And raises his reputation though ignorant

19. It garbles his speech though an eloquent Arab
And clarifies his words though a foreigner

20. No injustice from it, while its people
Are villainous riffraff, wicked and vile

21. When the clouds uncover her bright face
Dawn almost hides its sun from it

22. What's in her smile and necklaces corresponds
And by the soul that correspondence thrives

23. Her cheek matches the red anemone
While a berry matches what's between each

24. As for her forehead, around its crescent's halo
Are stars that melt the heart when they appear

25. Serene, seducing hearts though prohibited
One moment forbidding, another permitting

26. And a crystal neck, as if
Signs of the new moon's light were upon it

27. So it ignites in the heart a burning, if I expressed it
My groaning would melt her white swords

28. Inaccessible, none can attempt
To meet her, rather beyond that are fortresses

29. Veiled from all save the Creator
So neither the mind nor thought can reach her

30. Protected from all that hunt
The means of demise carrying

31. I obeyed her love though disobeying amulets
Can amulets be disobeyed save in their names?

32. I hid my affair fearing a gossip would spread it
But she understood and revealed it with darting eyes

33. I feared its twists and turns, but He who does
Called it, the One who acts

34. So after beseeching the One perfect in noble traits
I care not for it, a prophet sent

35. Better guided, more generous when
Caravans journeyed to him

36. Noble, so the gleam of hopes does not fail
At his side, nor is giving importuned by miser

37. He is the sea except his freshwater springs
Are coveted by poor widows for their flock

38. Paltry are Hatim's gifts compared to his
While his gifts dwarf even the loftiest mounts

39. He gives freely what the generous gave
By which every generous one falls short

40. He delights in hosting a healthy or ailing visitor
And makes welcome whoever comes asking

41. The seekers of his favors are not deprived
While in war he cleaves solid armor

42. Before him the brave flees despite his coat of mail
While the Khawarnaq1 is frozen

43. Through him 'Adnan excelled over Ka'b and Himyar
While Tameem and Waa'il submitted to his supremacy

44. If his ancestors took pride, it was in his pride
By the sword overflowing its sheath and scabbards

45. He is exonerated from all defects, so his attributes
Are equally exalted in perfect beauty