1. My heart, wishing you well, is filled with joys,

    hopeful, jubilant, rejoicing in victory.

  2. Take, among your little foibles, some of what you have come to be known for—

    that for which you are recognized and renowned.

  3. And mimic the sparrows: chee, chee, chee, ch-chee, ch-ch-chee,

    when the sparrows answer one another at dawn.

  4. For in you is all the folly and madness one could wish;

    a little of you is an elixir for abundant foolishness.

  5. How many people have sought to fathom it, only to be baffled!

    And how could anyone fathom what comes by the hundredweight?

  6. Do not disavow my foolish antics, for through them

    the banner of my folly flies unfurled across the horizons.

  7. I seek through them neither friend nor substitute;

    far from it—another may be excused for abandoning folly.

  8. I have no fault except that, whenever they grow merry

    and I am present, an eruption can be seen upon the head,

  9. and upon the two jugulars, where swelling and reddening

    never cease to show from such excessive jesting.

  10. Such treatment, together with disdain, is unremitting:

    slapping and soaking, ease and hardship.

  11. This and that and this, then that and this—

    such are the nights: they hold serenity and vexation.

  12. I ask God’s forgiveness for what I said in jest,

    for no purpose, while what lies in the scrolls stands written.

  13. I tell my soul, when it begins to feel alarm

    and fear and warnings spend the night restraining it:

  14. The praise of Imam Nizar—be confident—

    is a treasure stored with God for one such as you.

  15. He is the one after God beside whom no other

    among mankind is praised and thanked.

  16. A striver, his hem tucked up in pursuit of lofty deeds,

    who tucks it up for nothing short of the highest glory.

Sol 5.6