ألا هل أتاها بالمغيب سلامي — Albohtry

Ah, has my greeting reached her in my absence?

And has she been told of my longing for her and my consuming love?

And has she learned that I have wasted away, and that she is

my cure for the disease of wasting and my sickness?

And a woman swaying like a slender bough, who, when she walks,

bends with coquetry and the beauty of her figure,

has declared my blood lawful, though I did no wrong, and forbidden

my speech without cause on the day we met.

May what you have left of me be your ransom, for it is

the last spark of life within emaciated bones.

Grant union to a lover whose tears longing has kept flowing

in torrent after torrent down both cheeks.

For what you have declared lawful is not lawful,

and what you have forbidden is not forbidden.

And I stubbornly resist anyone who blames me

on your account, and rebel against every reproach.

And whenever I spoke to myself of forgetting love,

I cast off my bridle-strap or broke my bridle.

And I let my robes hang for every momentous affair,

and, in other pursuits, girded myself for every wild exploit.

Is life anything but well-decanted juice of the vine,

which cloud-water makes shimmer in the cup,

and Banan's lute, when its plaintive music is accompanied

in melodious strains by Zunam's flute?

Our day aboard al-Zaww would only grow lovelier

for us, with sweet music and wine.

We lived at ease on a palace that moved, carrying young men

seated along its sides, and standing.

The white hawks keep snatching all around us

the breasts of birds roaming through the sky.

They swoop down with francolins from every lofty height,

bloodied, their talons stained.

So I have never seen the like of al-Qatul, whose waters bear

the surge of a sea overflowing with bounty,

nor a mountain like al-Zaww, halted at times,

and yielding when you lead it by a rein.

God has indeed gathered every virtue

for a fair, valiant man from the Prophet's house.

We gather around one cheerful of face, not one who scowls

at us, nor a rainless cloud whose gifts are scant.

What endears him to his subjects is that he

defends their frontiers and protects them,

and that he has tenderness and compassion for them,

and abundant favors, immense in their bounty.

Islam has indeed sought refuge from Ja'far's sword

in a keen blade—a cutting sword in calamities.

By it the frontier whose breach is feared is secured,

even if enemies assail it in every possible way.

We pray, and what completes our prayer is our conviction

that, in God's sight, you are the best of imams.

Toward you, O God's trustee, our hearts have inclined

with the devotion of those who yearn for you, mad with love.

I have sworn by Him whom I call Lord, and to whom belong

my prayer, my worship in pure devotion, and my fasting:

you have indeed guarded God's religion with the finest protection,

and upheld God's command in the finest manner.