1. A specter tormented me, adding to my pains,
A pain I was not used to, being so afflicted.

2. Avoiding seeing me when I was awake,
It came to me in confused dreams.

3. Disguised, it came in a howdah,
Like the moon hidden in robes of darkness.

4. So my eyes began to pick pearls from its mouth,
And I held a branch beneath the fullness of its moon.

5. On a night I could not thank enough
When I was alone with it, free of blame.

6. Until when dawn flashed for the onlooker,
I parted from it against my will.

7. It remained secluded, shunning me,
So I shunned my patience when passion overwhelmed me.

8. I called to it while my tears poured down
Like pouring rain, drenching my cheeks.

9. O you who ail me with your ailment, have mercy!
My heart has suffered too long from loveickness.

10. Do not combine reproach and long estrangement
In a day, so you commit successive sins.

11. O you who see lawful union as forbidden
And unlawful union as not unlawful!

12. If your estrangement from me continues
Despite my unyielding patience and persistent lovesickness,

13. The days favor your estrangement from me
And estrangement from the phantom of my dreams,

14. Then I will confide my darkness to Abu Nasr
And seek refuge with him, protected and safeguarded.

15. He whose fate I do not foresee as propitious
Until I see him, no generous bestower of bounty,

16. And when his right hand gleams, visiting
One day, eloquent with the pens,

17. A pen, when it privately converses with him, the confidant of his conscience,
Its eloquence speaks with my tears.

18. He ordains lifespans and the overflowing of gifts,
While destinies obey him in all matters.

19. None remains to be hoped for to dispel adversity
And protect from injustice or transgression,

20. Except Abu Nasr, whose favors
Continually descend like pouring rain.

21. When the times learned that I
Take refuge with him, it shunned confronting me.

22. It came to me humbled,
After its glory, again my lad.

23. I called: O Time, after you I grew frail,
My patience failed me, and my paternal uncles passed away.

24. I traveled from a land whose people
Grieve for my departure and remoteness of my aspirations.

25. Toward a lord who remains ever exalted
Until he ascended and rose above the zenith.

26. Yours is the protection, for I have taken
Refuge with him, so turn away in peace.

27. Does not the prophecy of his resolve frighten you,
That he should assume the garb of my oppressor?

28. Then I turned to you, arrayed in coats of mail,
Scowling at your call while facing me.

29. I traverse the deserts fearlessly,
With neither anxiety about losing provisions nor water-skins.

30. Secure in the words of a letter, lofty in principles,
In which, from yellow sands, are tattoos.

31. My whip, while traveling, is my will
Guiding it while night is an ocean of darkness.

32. I travel in God’s name toward Mujallab
Lower than all people in might and esteem.

33. So it carried me like a bird to its nest,
And flew swiftly to its encampment and tent.

34. I met the dawn with my cheeks, going forth
Without covering my mouth with a kerchief.

35. Accompanying me, estrangement from settlements, aiding me
In my journey, were my resolve and sharp sword.

36. Until I arrived, safe, at your abode’s gate,
With fortune behind me and before me.

37. When I summoned praise of you, it answered me
With eloquent, clear speech:

38. None remains, of generous nature, to dispel adversity
Except Abu Nasr, impetuous and intrepid.

39. A king whose hands all favors grasp completely,
So he makes them submissive without shackles.

40. He called upon bounties and virtues, so they came to him
Obediently, without need for shackles.

41. With will for favors surpassing them,
And resolve firmer than an anvil.

42. For him above the heavens platforms were erected
Surrounded by tents and pavilions.

43. Whenever his name is mentioned among nobles,
They stand in awe of his tremendousness.

44. Had distinction been worshipped for its merit,
It would have submitted to him without blame.

45. When his Master saw the soundness of his judgment
Regarding every sincere and concealed counselor,

46. He relegated affairs to him for their conclusion,
So sufficed him the meaning of authority and conclusion.

47. O questioner, to inform you of his superiority,
Listen to my words and speech:

48. God does what He wills with a subtlety
Whose intricacies are beyond perceptions.

49. He placed the entire creation into one—
Who thus attained obvious, growing distinction.

50. With eloquence, generosity, cheerfulness,
And courage that casts down mountains.

51. And such eloquence that, if it were measured,
You would find it of perfect and complete expression.

52. A Hatem in munificence, when scattered clouds are mentioned,
A Sword of the Yazan tribe against the foe.

53. In prose like their finest orators, in verse like their poets,
In wisdom like Luqman in judgments.

54. A Joseph in chastity and brilliance,
Who can parallel him in knowledge to settle disputes?

55. Those are bygone names, their actions
Among us like specters without bodies.

56. Take what you see and leave guessing, for maybe
Hearing exceeds those of insight.

57. He is the first, the last in superiority,
The essence, the obvious giver of favors.

58. Peerless in giving and bestowal,
The emancipator of captives from execution.

59. This is Abu Nasr who inherited the heights
From noble, esteemed forebears without speaking.

60. He gives newborns to petitioners generously
While his mature camels stride perfectly.

61. When he brandishes a pen to dispel adversity
Callow youths submit to him in battle.

62. Swords in early morning are submissive to his will,
Executing his commands without hesitation.

63. And so he decreed that the Mashrifeh tribe
Would forever obey the commands of pens.

64. Know that I did not give false witness to extol him
Or presume a burden I could not carry.

65. But his virtues were dispersed among people
So I compiled them in this ode.

66. A pen—when his hands begin for an asker,
It pours upon horizons in divisions.

67. I came to you from lands that are distant
And remote from my family and settlements.

68. Led by hopes of attaining what I love
Of days, for my aspirations were fulfilled.

69. So treat me in a way that I will be fortunate
And counted among your servants.

70. When you see my competence, trustworthiness,
Safeguarding of my honor, and excellent service

71. In tasks assigned me, and my good governance,
You will have the choice regarding my employment.

72. First, be generous to me with something simple, for I
Am content with the honor you confer on me.

73. I learned the world's worth is diminished,
As is all it contains, of cattle.

74. If its weight is generosity, its weakness is weaker
Than all it contains of cattle.

75. Be generous with perishable things, I will repay you
With that which remains, for its permanence through years.

76. And peace be upon you for as long as a star gleams on high,
And the turtledoves call one another to the baths.