1. I will leave the land of the hypocrites
And seek a home where I can be myself

2. Why should I not part from evil people?
My day with them is the darkest night

3. Baghdad is no home for noblemen
Nor can fortunes be made in Iraq

4. I will release my camel to wander
With resolve and speed like a leaflet

5. With determination I could, if I wished
Ascend above the seven heavens

6. To be like a mote in the eye of the sun
And like a cup in the hand of the pourer

7. They hide me in their bosoms
And reveal me like cast dice

8. On a limb that outruns the gazelle’s
Of thoroughbred steeds, their reins cut

9. He takes mighty strides
Appearing tall above the incense burners

10. I cleave the dark with him though I wish
To climb a cloud on the celestial stairs

11. And hunt game as he runs
Without spurring like a flooding torrent

12. He grew used to me and saw my worth
So disdained the company of friends

13. You see him gliding smoothly
Like a swooping eagle needing no goad

14. In the desert, his ear catches a faint sound
Wandering happily like a drunken camel

15. To him all days are equal
The day of moving on like the day of staying

16. Why then should I not pitch my tent among people
Whose misfortune calls me like a healer?

17. My hips grew sore and bare
Like the joints of an old water-drawer

18. I eat rough food, apart from people
And drink fermented sorghum lees

19. I have patience and fierce courage
And I hold the deep well of knowledge

20. I surpass the ancients in meaning
And excel in probing it when we meet

21. In every branch of science, every book
I shine like the sun, not faint lightning

22. Students marvel as they copy me out
In saffron, black ink, and red ochre

23. Zawra’ quenched my thirst for learning
And my superiority lines its corridors

24. Its people gained from my books
And my teaching rewarded them fully

25. If they deny me out of envy
My pride still rises high above the sun’s orbit

26. I will abandon their home, which has no good
And whose people are the hypocrites of Iraq

27. They have broken the staff and disobeyed my generosity
And persisted in causing strife

28. God has made life bitter, so how often have we been deceived
By words that do not relieve suffocation?

29. Our high families have turned away
And threatened us with divorce like swords

30. If they left us some status
They left it by tearing our friends apart

31. O my people! Is there no friend
To cool the blazing fire?

32. If I called people burdened by my burning pain
I heard that if you call a people

33. Upon whom glory sits, my agony and burning would depart
But supporters are few, and we have no one

34. To turn aside the blows of fate, except
The Chosen One, the best of messengers

35. Whose Burāq carried him up through the heavens
The imam of prophets, undoubtedly

36. And crown of the pious, with no dissent
He is the helper who brings relief to those hoping for it

37. The healer of the most penetrating pain
He is the light by whose brilliance the world’s

38. Deceits have been dispelled
He excels in character and nature

39. And in praiseworthy traits of disposition
After God, we have no greater

40. His light in the universe remains
Can death be attributed to one who has ascended

41. Truly to the highest of the seven heavens?
And gained, apart from divinity, attributes

42. That made him like a well-woven garment
O Messenger of God, you are the helper I cry for help

43. Our spirits have reached the point of extinction
The people have altogether turned against us

44. With the worst, on foot and on mounts
So be our neighbor against the evil people

45. Who made us drink the cup of misery
And on Judgment Day, be our intercessor

46. And guide us to the purest meadows
Remove from us the harm, for we have been repelled

47. And cast into the depths of wells
By serving the Law, we have shown

48. The greatest longing for your lofty ways
And be the best neighbor to the Sa’idi clan

49. Treating them with kindness and intimacy
Upon you, wherever an evening comes

50. Is the prayer of a loving man complaining of parting