1. My messenger left, and a lover came to me,
And an obstacle prevented him from delivering my message.

2. He returned not with an answer, but with yearning -
It made him speechless, though love made him eloquent.

3. The confident sun clothes my cheeks with shyness,
Like one wearing a garment.

4. My excuse is valid for she whom I love,
And for one with beauty like hers, desire is fitting.

5. He promised he would come to me,
Though he was neither foremost, nor following after.

6. I thought he would visit me in the night,
For he is the star, and his name is Al-Tariq.

7. He said, "My dwelling place is the sky. If you wish,
Shine, or set, or abandon, or separate."

8. Alas! Alas! That he would stay there -
He would grow bored of it, and of the sky and the knocker.

9. How can a lover settle in a land
When he has always dwelt in ardour and passion?

10. He has a mouth - how my kisses delighted in it,
In my imaginings, amid reproach or lightning flash.

11. If I have not tasted its sweetness with my mouth,
I have still savoured it with my gazing eyes.

12. I have sipped its red wine - forbidden
To the boy and the one embracing him.

13. Say to the garment, "Let the boy kiss me
Despite myself," and say, "Oh his shirt, embrace him!"

14. You preceded me in embracing him - rejoice in that,
For people have never seen me precede another.

15. I outdid them in rising to excellence, purchasing it
Until I made its market faithless and hypocritical.

16. I surpassed them in perfection, and let people know
That perfection in me is transcendent.

17. Whence would imperfection come to me? My father’s glory,
Like his worth, is lofty.

18. He is Al-Rashid, whose authority
Marched on with no driver or guide.

19. His eminence surpasses the sky in rank -
Where do you suppose its pinnacle touches?

20. In the spheres of space lies the source of his spring -
Where do they reckon its branch is lofty?

21. He sees the stars rising
And how he hurls them as they set.

22. His nickname is Father of Excellence - he loves
The essence of excellence, and command suits his son, the lover.

23. The night steals the light of his beauty,
As if a dawn were sprinkled over it.

24. If knots of misfortune appear,
He can unravel them at the break of his dawn.

25. Like the darkness and daylight if intermingled,
There would be a distinction between this and that.

26. His intellect knows the unseen - verily
He has become knowledgeable in its mysteries.

27. His opinion fills the times - they are straitened,
Yet his bosom is not constrained by it.

28. His servant prospers though the servant remains disobedient,
For he was no runaway slave.

29. If the buyer were to defy him in the morning,
He would depose him from his lofty position.

30. His generosity floods the destitute - how many
Has his munificence caused to drown?

31. He gave every silent one speech, so the silent ones
Among them began praising him in eulogies.

32. The desire to kiss his hand inclines them,
As the passionate lover yearns for the beloved.

33. Say to the enemy who tried to catch up with him,
"Alas! Alas! You cannot catch up."

34. He climbed to the heights when they were split open,
While you are neither transcendent nor sublime.

35. You flew, but like a moth - do not boast,
For not every flier is brilliant and radiant.

36. If someone falsely claimed his glory stole it,
Say to him, "I have caught you red-handed, you thief!"

37. His enemies fancied they had strangled him,
But they have no executioner save the Creator.

38. Oh you whose favours and gifts
Have broken my back and burdened my shoulders!

39. You have granted me, in the midst of my city, lands
That delighted every tall and short person.

40. Gold dinars are its revenue, and their price
Has never ceased to be advantageous.

41. He does not care whether the Nile comes
Or withholds its flashing waters.

42. Pure wine is pleasant to me without toil,
And why should not musk be sweet to the smeller?

43. My life is purified, so its spring
With the turbulence of fate is limpid and clear.

44. If you are not my Creator, still the Creator has permitted
That you provide for me.

45. Oh Ja'far, you have proven true your promise to me,
So you are undoubtedly Ja'far the Truthful.