Why even mention Qais before the grandeur of my madness; he must have merely been some desert-wanderer of ancient times.

Here, the poet audaciously dismisses the legendary Majnun (Qais) compared to the sheer magnitude of his own passion. While tradition reveres Majnun for roaming the wilderness in love's frenzy, the speaker brushes him off as merely an ordinary desert-wanderer of bygone days. It is a classic poetic boast, celebrating a level of madness in love that eclipses every legend that came before.