يا مُلْزمِي بِالذَّنْبِ ما لَمْ أَفْعَل

وموليّا عَنْ وَجْهِ وُدٍّ مُقْبل

O He who holds me to account for what I have not done,

O you who bind me to a sin I did not commit,

And turns away from my pleading face,

And turn away from a face of affection drawing near,

أَوَ ما نَهاكَ جَمالُ وَجْهِكَ أَنْ تَرَى

مُتَعالِياً فِي الظُّلْمِ غَيْرَ المُجْملِ

Does not your beauty forbid you to see

Did the beauty of your face not forbid you to be seen

One exalted in the darkness, other than the Exalted?

Arrogant in tyranny, lacking in grace?

عَدَلَ الخَلِيفَةُ جَعْفَرٌ فِي مَلْكِهِ

وعَلَيَّ فِي مُلْكِ الْهَوَى لَمْ يَعْدِلِ

Caliph Ja'far ruled justly in his kingdom,

The Caliph Ja'far dealt justly in his dominion,

Yet over me in the kingdom of love he was not just.

Yet towards me, in the dominion of love, he was not just.

مَلِكٌ يُسابِقُ وَعْدَهُ إِنْجازُهُ

وَيَجُودُ مُبْتَدِئاً بِما لَمْ يُسْأل

A king whose fulfillment outstrips his pledge

A king whose fulfillment races ahead of his promise,

And who gives freely, unasked.

And who bestows generously, initiating gifts unasked.

سَمَّاهُ مُقْتَدِراً إلهٌ قادِرٌ

وَعَلا بِهِ عِزٌّ الْعَلِي وَالمُعْتَلَي

A mighty God named him the All Powerful,

A capable God named him Al-Muqtadir,

And through him the Most High and Sublime prevailed.

And through him rose the glory of the High and Exalted.

طالَ المُلوكَ بِعَفْوِهِ ونَوالِهِ

وكَذا يَطُولُ لَهُمْ بِعُمْرٍ أَطْوَلِ

His pardon and gifts sustain the kings,

He surpassed all kings in his pardon and his bounty,

And thus may they live yet longer lives.

And so may he surpass them with a longer life.