1. Are you a compassionate consoler of the distraught,
And a protector of those overwhelmed with grief in their refuge?

2. Alas! A killer has no mercy on his victim,
With his fang still embedded in the heart, unremovable.

3. When one is afflicted with love’s malady, I am
Debilitated by the sickness of passion, not recovering.

4. I am afflicted with love for a charming sorcerer,
Whose glance made ruby lips seem pallid.

5. I want a cure you offer to guide me from my madness,
When can a coddled one be stern with his coddler?

6. How many sighs I have for him, and groans,
As if that could help me against him!

7. And hopes for union with him, if only
They were fulfilled, would be at the height of joy.

8. O matchless in beauty! You are the pinnacle
Of it, as I am in youthful vigor fully awake.

9. I am blamed for loving life because of you—
Shall I stop loving because of the critics’ blame?

10. I weep before him, and if he senses the pain, the grief,
He hints with a flirtatious wink.

11. To him my charms and my state are
Perplexed between jest and earnest.

12. Two opposites joined in one word—
He toys with me in love with dual meaning.

13. I will strip myself of restraint, with determination
Whose Lord has not been in a revelry defamed.

14. Am I not the lord of virtues? If it were proper
To lower them, who but me would be blamed?

15. Even enemies bear witness to his merit, and I gain insight
From an envious eye blinded by ignorance.

16. I am a servant whom time has shown to be incapable
Of finding any equal or peer.

17. A servant of the mighty, honored one
Whose might has humbled kings in awe of him.

18. He sparks the flames of war, helper against foes,
A lion among those who roar and growl.

19. His eloquence puts orators to shame,
for he surpasses the eloquent in clarity and originality.

20. So that an era tried by his descent
Throws down mountains looming over it.

21. And likewise the turbulent speaker is rendered turbulent in his speech
As if an anklet were on the tongue of the inarticulate.

22. So let the arrogant scream before his sword
In battle, and in debate with his spear.

23. He is the essence of the brutal age and protection
Of the impotent king, and aid to every seeker.

24. A resolute, vigilant king, content, judicious,
A sea of clouds, scholar, devout, perceptive.

25. Keen to take obscure virtues unnoticed by
The keenest minds, for some remained undetected by him.

26. Alert to kindness, never sleeping through it,
So he is guided by his vigilance.

27. He remedies the injustice of time with his justice,
And protects all who take refuge with him.

28. And when one beseeches him for his wealth
His help is gentle or strong.

29. And for the attributes of his glory and his eminence
The kingdom has a yearning without affectation.

30. Never has a fierce lion penetrated the thickets
More fiercely, pouncing with utmost ferocity.

31. One day, when blood was spilled in the fray
By him, and foes slaughtered and torn asunder.

32. Tongues have grown weary listing his virtues
Until he remains peerless in rank.

33. So he lives at ease with his subjects
In comforts made smooth by his magnificent justice.

34. How many who suffer misery and toil
Are indulged by his sharing in their suffering!

35. Look, when delegations crowd his gate
From every hopeful seeking him.

36. Whether he is harsh or gentle in what
They seek from him, none can sway him.

37. His ways are wholesome, his habit restrained,
The audacious are checked by the mention of him.

38. Like water, when it flows it is not
Sweet, clear, and potable unless it satisfies.

39. O best of those exemplary in valor and repute,
Pride of the age, itself prideless!

40. Every ruling prince ransom you perpetually
With the tongues of the rabble praising you.

41. The whisperer understands not when you speak to him,
Nor makes himself understood when he speaks.

42. I have resolved to abandon poetry in praise
Of others, even if I do, the praise is compelled.

43. With your gifts I have become prosperous,
Hoping for your bonus, living in plenty.

44. And before you my merit has appeared genuine, as
No fault of mine concealed from you appears spurious.

45. You have attained from your God what a worshipper desired,
Praying devoutly through the night.