1. Preparations prolonged have wearied me,
And waiting for what's hard weighs heavily on me.

2. Of being a libertine I long ago grew tired,
For being a libertine is but foolery.

3. When ignoble men accuse me of moral corruption,
I refuse, though refusing may sometimes prove vain.

4. My overlooking of loose women is a weakness,
With them the path of evil lies open and bare.

5. I fulfilled one wish but formed another,
For desires there is an answering and an end.

6. For my father Ayyub shall I ever hide
What, when the veil lifts, will be laid all too bare.

7. When I came to him as a guest he was cold to me,
Yet a guest deserves courtesy, regard and care.

8. Tomorrow the presumptuous rabble will learn
That I'm fierce when enraged, and suffer no slight.

9. I came to Salma, though others disputed it,
And she was protected by covenant and oath.

10. And they kept me from the sweet ecstasy of love,
Though I cried out, had my call but been heard.

11. My allegiance is to Him I see as my Lord,
A pact not forgotten though time take its toll.

12. I've shunned intimates, to me they're now as
The water of the eye - when gone, the loss is the same.

13. Yet God was my protection from all they exposed me to,
I seek refuge in Him when tribulations appear.

14. Were it not for the Righteous Leader among us,
For them I'd have poured all that my vessel could hold.

15. And one day in Judayyid I broke a promise,
For the word of a serving girl permanence has not.

16. So say to the singers, enough, I have settled,
The time for my love songs has passed and is gone.

17. The Lord of Creation has barred me from them,
Patience triumphed and torment is no more.

18. How many a lover for a girl of some tribe
When with her, only purity between them is found.

19. And the bloom of youth in maidens is aversion
To looseness; on them let veils be gracefully drawn.

20. When enemies bark, my devotion to them grows,
As I was raised, but for dogs only censure.

21. With them I toyed when an elegant rake,
To whom they incline though I only bring harm.

22. Their love enveloped my heart entirely,
As the sky envelops the earth spread below.

23. But when I was called, wisdom I attained,
And the painful confusion cleared away from me.

24. To the coquettish girls, God's peace from me,
Whatever our Caliph, the Leader, may do.

25. For now I repent of fair slave girls,
Of perfume and wine once sweet poisons to me.

26. On many a day wine shakes my mind,
As singing and beautiful women entice me.

27. I've not abandoned all vice, but
My fervor carried me away from restraint.

28. It's time for Muslimah bin Qays to say
No cure exists for desire's sovereign sway.

29. Refrain from saucy girls, keep your distance,
For the impudent and insolent, seemly behavior's the way.

30. No solace from Ibn Qays will meet me,
When consolation for what's past is beyond hope.