Whether it be chieftainship, or lordliness (ode IV)

Whether it be chieftainship, or lordliness, or a monarch's sway;

If thou perceivest, they are all fruitless trouble and anxiety.

Without the fair, both life and death, are one and the same thing;

For the sake of the dear ones, alone, is existence of any usefulness.

By fate, the curls of the beloved must have been destined

For the derangement and disorder of my heart, from the beginning of time.

It is through inebriation, that the goblet hath fallen to the ground:

Account it not rage or anger, O cupbearer! 'tis but the levity of youth.

At the errors of the wise, indignation and reproach are levelled;

But the excuse of fools is their own ignorance and foolishness.

Thou wilt either give some one's dwelling to the flames, or shed his blood;

Seeing that thou hast donned garments of the Arghowan's red hue.

The fire of love shall come forth from the earth over the graves

Of all, whose affection for their love, from the soul itself, proceedeth.

I will leave the walls of the cloister, and go out unto the tavern;

For therein is to be found safety from this, and the next world's ills.

The universe lieth under the seal of content and resignation:

Shouldst thou draw it on thy finger, it is Suliman's magic ring.

The red tears that course each other down thy cheeks, O Abd-ul-Kadir!

Are a sumptuous banquet of rubies for thine own dear friend.