1. Stand by the remnants, or drive them in order,
Perhaps you may go to the dwellings of Arabs,

2. And ask the breeze that folded our necks at dawn,
Whence it came, for it holds the scent of musk.

3. And in the remnants is one bent with burning,
Who joins the herd of passionate love in old age,

4. Who meets separation with unrelenting patience,
Over desires, and with unvanquished fervor.

5. O mistress of the protected litter, her flanks guarded,
Why does your love tempt me and tempt my father?

6. I thought my youth would intercede for me,
And my open hand would bring me near.

7. You played tricks on me and my hopes,
With promises between belief and denial.

8. That the furthest of love's states is that
A lover meets loyalty from the beloved.

9. How I have suffered from your disapproval, and how
They have suffered from my rejection and frown.

10. I strive toward you as their blame drives me away,
So I am between apology and rebuke.

11. She turned from me without cause, so I said:
O sister of Joseph, I have not Job's patience.

12. Travel or stay, you are my peace,
And you are the aim of my hopes and desire.

13. Two things I am safe from a third,
My fervor for you, and the kindness of the son of Jacob.

14. Alluring is he whose promise is not drawn out,
Nor his manner in intimacy taken from me.

15. When he is harsh I say, “O lion of the den, stop!”
And when he appears I say, “O sun of the morn, hide!”

16. He sleeps with might that makes mortals smile,
And the sword is bare, neither burnished nor dreaded.

17. He is deafer to questions on debate day than
The deafness of pipes is more decisive and penetrating.

18. O you who possesses my secret and public affection,
And whom my devotion and proximity is bound to.

19. How often, if not for my longing, I'd distance myself
So you may see the truth of my affection after testing me.

20. Through you I gained victory over the days, prevailing,
So beware my limit, stern, dreaded.

21. You perfected my upbringing with benevolence,
And you perfected my discipline with precision.

22. And you granted me an opinion that enriched me,
Freeing me from the horrors of trials.

23. So ask your meanings about me, for they will tell you,
And tell you of generosity in them unasked.

24. He who made my poetry's stars shine at dawn,
Illuminated what’s between sunrise and sunset.

25. He stripped nonsense from my mind and resolve,
And nonsense was collared by my praise and poetry.

26. And from Muhammad is my resolve and knowledge,
And from Muhammad my confidence and discipline.

27. I have no opinion in choosing steeds to mount,
For when I set out, my will is the best mount.

28. May God protect you from a care I suffer,
That bitterly I say melts my innards.

29. You have filled lifetimes with knowledge, while it
Fills me with ignorance, and counts me unreckoned.

30. One of the wonders in my eyes, if described,
My description of it would be one of the wonders.

31. He does not settle for an uncustomary dignity,
Nor walk with undeserved distinction.

32. He has no neighbor without distinction,
Nor a guest made happy by his welcoming.

33. He deflects my encounter if it is with anger,
Like an infidel deflected from some shrines.

34. And if I strike with the slightest thought I would say,
“You have killed, with the worst of blows, the worst of beaten.”

35. His shoes that trod are worth sacrificing for,
Even if ransomed by reviled and outcast.

36. Glories are innocent of undertaking them,
While glory dressed itself in lies through them.

37. Would that each doubtful critic's reproach depart,
Ransoming each innocent of accused honor.

38. Would that I were not pushed to a time,
Where the lions obey the weakest of rabbits.

39. If the weaker can veil the stronger, no wonder,
For many a mind is veiled by fancy's curtain.

40. Time is unsafe for any mortal,
Whom it turns between bliss and torment.

41. No dwelling in it settles its dweller,
Nor does a companion trust in it his fellow.

42. For people are only you in an era,
Swayed by intimidation and enticement.

43. Are you not of a band before whom
Neither ‘Aad with success nor Aaf with failure bowed?

44. Exalted in station, abstaining from blemish,
Near in nobility, distant from shame.

45. Noble is their outward qualities,
Noble what they concealed in robes.

46. Their phrases wrought elegance's beauty through them,
Of eloquence, in the sublimity of execution.

47. From every well-treading path of munificence and felicity,
Descended from the milking of Fayhaan's udder.

48. Chaste, noble in nature, bestower of good, a flag
Planted for God in the path of guidance.

49. In them, for every young man who comes upon them,
Is the justice of a balanced approach in every manner.

50. For every venerable elder, veneration of honor,
And every smaller one, belittlement of endearment.

51. So delight in this feast, O feast that you reduce,
And rejoice in fortune and abundant reward.

52. And submit to the faults these people have
In knowledge, logic, or systems.

53. For your glory is not in hidden glory,
Nor your praise in unreliable praise.

54. You do not meet nights without progressing,
Nor attain heights without being gifted them.

55. Leave me and my poetry, for he who is diseased in his lids,
My healing of eyelids’ illness refutes me.

56. And take examples of what thoughts I expressed,
That compliment you in both word and script.

57. For the pearl looks finer pierced for its stringer,
And the beauty of my words is an unpierced pearl.

58. And whenever poetry is spoken or recited, I do not
See it as anything but sprinkles of my showers.