1. I saw you had fever, did its flames kiss you,
So it leaned to the branches of willows intoxicated,

2. And cooed to the turtledoves' song as if
It were the tinkle of anklets when bosoms toyed with them.

3. My excuse, from that sweetheart, what ails her?
She says "my excuse" while the lover is her excuse.

4. He turns his eyes to her, his conscience,
And turns her eyes to him, her conscience.

5. Not all that he fears of her harms him,
Nor all that she fears of him harms her.

6. The censurers rose against me and blamed me,
I said "I'm her captive," they said "Do you not relent?"

7. If the gazelle's eyes have no magic,
Then what is the trait of gazelles but shyness?

8. Nothing cured me but the breeze and its wanderings
Upon me when her necklaces toyed with it.

9. Come now, refrain, what I had feared has passed
And the nights of fate became sweet when they passed.

10. The world smiled at its people in the morning
And its good news and herald smiled at them.

11. It wandered at the feasts of kings, and how could it not
When the feast of the Commander of the Faithful is its feast?

12. With it, its Lord restored the spirit of the Caliphate,
And its victory came to it with Him as its champion.

13. The lords of nations were confounded, and nothing besides
The King of the Wilds whose throne has grown small.

14. Fate assaulted it tattered in its afflictions
So Abdülhamid came to its aid and gave it refuge.

15. --With the light of God discerning in every crisis,
The eyes of the hunted creatures glance woefully behind its veil.

16. And it flew with him, not content with the stars as its limit,
Spreading its wings over him as its birds.

17. His enemies think there are others like him among the people--
Woe to them! The sun at dawn has no equal.

18. France was deluded to see the lion with a fleabite
And knew not until its envoy plunged into it.

19. Would that you live long, O lion cub! It did not quiver
From what the Prophet scolded its zeal.

20. How many a state marched before you in its prime
And was led like the stars in their orbits their pride!

21. You have filled the earth against them with angry lions
Who echo their roar between the two hills.

22. At your gesture it leaned with its wastes,
And at your gesture it surged with its seas.

23. When the emissaries of death were arrayed in the fury of battle,
Their armies faltered and their graves made haste for them.

24. The swords of the Turks--how little their enemies know them!
When their necks knew them well before that day.

25. Their gleam shakes the Muslims toward you
Though the wall of China joins their ranks.

26. May the Caliph be honored dwelling on his throne
And the wilderness delighted in its joys!

27. The Bosphorus sends up fireworks in tribute to Egypt
And its palaces shine on both shores.

28. Its people saw His light in the horizon
And for His family His light rose from the horizon.

29. Its gallant youth speaks, the paper fluttering with his verse,
And he gestures to it, roaring his ode,

30. With a voice that enchants none but them,
And am I for poetry but its puppet?

31. When its rhymes draw near they are coy
And its meanings parade to you in its lines.

32. No time of those past surpassed when their time
Excelled if its steeds were left behind in the dust.