كفى بك داء أن ترى الموت شافيا

Suffice it as a disease that you see death as a cure, and enough of destinies that they should be your wishes.

You wished for them when you wished to find a true friend who proved elusive, or a hypocritical enemy.

If you are content to live in humiliation, then do not prepare the sharp Yemeni blade.

Do not stretch out the lances for a raid, and do not seek out the finest, thoroughbred horses.

For modesty avails lions nothing against starvation, nor are they feared until they become fierce beasts of prey.

I gave you my heart before you loved one who turned away; he proved treacherous, so be you faithful.

I know that separation brings you complaint afterward; so you are not my heart if I see you weeping.

For the tears of the eye are traitors to their master when they flow in the wake of the faithless.

If generosity is not granted deliverance from injury, then neither is praise earned nor wealth left remaining.

The soul possesses traits that reveal a man: whether what he offered was genuine open-handedness or a mere pretense of generosity.

Less your longing, O my heart! Often have I seen you lavish pure affection on one who does not repay it.

I was created naturally affectionate; if I could travel back to my youth, I would part from my gray hair with a wounded, weeping heart.

But in Fustat there is an ocean to whom I have dedicated my life, my loyalty, my passion, and my rhyming verses.

And lean horses between whose flanks we stretched the lances, so they spent the night light-footed, following the towering ones.

Treading with hooves that, whenever they struck the smooth rock, carved upon it the chests of wild falcons with their edges.

And gazing with dark, true eyes into the gloom of night, seeing distant figures just as they truly are.

Pricking their ears for the faintest rustle, imagining that the silent whispers of conscience are spoken calls.

Contending with the reins of the morning's horsemen, as if venomous vipers were coiled upon their necks.

With a resolve by which the body rides mounted in the saddle, while the heart walks within the body on foot.

Heading straight for Kafur, turning away from all others; whoever seeks the ocean disregards the little streams.

They brought us to the very pupil of the eye of his age, leaving a bright white space and a corner behind them.

We pass across them, bestowing kindness upon those whose own acts of grace and beneficence we witness.

A youth for whose era we did not journey through the loins of our ancestors save in the hope of reaching this meeting.

His stature stands too lofty for the mere aiding of noble deeds; thus no one performs such deeds save those who excuse him.

He eradicates the hostilities of the rebellious with his gentleness; if they do not perish by it, he eradicates the enemies themselves.

O Father of Musk, this is the face I longed for, and this is the time I hoped for.

I encountered the rugged peaks and harsh ridges before him, and crossed a midday heat that leaves even water thirsty.

O father of every sweetness, not of musk alone, and every rain-cloud—not singling out the early showers.

Every boaster points to a single quality, but the Merciful One has gathered all qualities within you.

If people earn high honors through charity, you give away high honors itself within your charity.

And it is no great matter that a traveler should visit you, only to return as a king governing the two Iraqs.

For you readily bestow the entire invading army upon your single petitioner who comes seeking bounty.

And you look upon the world with the contempt of one tried and tested, seeing everything within it—save for yourself—as fleeting.

Nor were you one who attained sovereignty through idle wishes, but rather through days that turned the temples white.

You see your enemies' efforts confined to the earth, while you view yours as ascents into the sky.

You clothed yourself in the dark clouds of dust, as if you saw the atmosphere as impure unless it was murky.

And you led toward it every lean, swift steed that carries you forward in wrath and brings you back satisfied.

And a drawn, sharp blade that obeys you repeatedly, yet rebels if you make exceptions, were you one to forbid it.

And a brown lance of twenty cubits which you are pleased with when it drinks, and which is pleased with you when you lead the horses to water.

Battalions that never ceased roaming through tribal lands of the earth, having already crossed endless desolate wastes to reach them.

You raided the halls of kings with them, until their hooves trampled upon their very crowns and dwelling places.

And you are the one who plunges into the spear-tips first, disdaining to face the weapons a second time.

When Indian blades make equal the two swords of battle, your sword in the hand removes that equality.

And in the words of Sam, had he looked upon his offspring: 'May the son of my brother, my own progeny, my life, and my wealth be a ransom!'

An utmost limit to which his Lord brought the master, and a soul within him that would settle for nothing short of the absolute peak.

It called to him, and he responded toward glory and eminence, while the rest of mankind opposed their own prompting souls.

Thus he towers above all worlds while they gaze upon him, and though his graciousness brings him near, he remains lofty.