شدا الحمام في الحمى فأطربا — Alshaghouri

The doves sang in the sanctuary and stirred delight;

and there I could not summon my patience.

It reminded me of a maiden passing beyond

the veil of my reason as she leads the herd of gazelles.

When she walks, her figure sets a slender branch swaying;

and when she gazes, her glance sets branches swaying.

Her hips quiver; swaying are

her flanks, like a bough stirred by the east wind,

among Asma, Rayya, and Sulayma,

and al-Rabab, her sister, and Zaynab.

I was given, in place of the raven, pitch-black

in color, against my will, a gray-white hawk.

The whiteness of gray hair drove the fair women away; and the

fair women abhor graying sideburns.

So here I am, lamenting my lost youth:

Ah, my sorrow! Ah, my grief! Ah, my ruin!

And they love none but one whose face

is like Shams al-Din's, matching it in beauty.

A sun at midmorning, a full moon in darkness, a lion in battle;

a rain of bounty, a sword of death, keen of edge.

The best of all God's creatures in character,

the fairest of them in form, the most accomplished in refinement.

No lion guarding his cubs,

turning an army back in retreat when he springs,

a raging lion of al-Shara, growling,

crouching, fangs bared, thick-necked,

snatching champions from their saddles

with his paw until they bite the dust,

is ever mightier than he in the onslaught of war;

so whoever meets him meets ruin.

Nor is a cloud, its cloudbanks pouring,

gushing, pouring copiously, cascading,

before which the plains and rugged uplands stand in

reverence, and knee-bands are loosened in joy at it,

drawing near, hanging low, trailing its rain-fringe,

embracing the hills' necks with its flood,

ever more bountiful than his right hand when

someone comes to him, asking him to give.

His gracious smile says to those seeking bounty:

Welcome to you! Be at ease, and welcome!

Praising him has proved the science of alchemy true;

so I have spent my time at it in wonder.

We offer him praise on its sheets of paper,

and receive silver and gold in exchange for it.

Our Lord bestowed upon him love

from Himself, so he became beloved among humankind.

His resolve raised him, and he became, in

eloquent speech, clear in expression and strikingly original.

Through him Islam became victorious, and

polytheism turned away, fleeing without turning its neck.

He secured the frontiers of peace, but razed the stronghold

of unbelief, dismantling what it had firmly erected.

May Shams al-Din ever remain in happiness,

as long as the sky reveals a star at night.