1. Has Asma fulfilled her promise of union to you
Or is her promised one still delayed and forgotten

2. Or has your love sickness been cured with patience
Or does that sickness still persist unrelentingly

3. Asma glanced at you for a moment, so charming
White, soft, beautiful, she passed by

4. She walked before you teasingly, now slower, now quicker
Swaying gently, gliding smoothly on her feet

5. And she revealed, from one cheek and then the other
As if two wild deer in a thicket glanced your way

6. The tinkling of her anklets as she walked
Smooth, bright metal circles round her feet

7. And she sashayed on hips that bent beneath her
As she hurried on, her legs partly revealed

8. And there flashed at you two languid, heavy-lidded eyes
Each lined delicately with kohl

9. Beaming out from her face were lightning smiles
Her complexion glowing, smooth as silk

10. And she displayed the brilliant moon-like face
Framed by night-dark braided hair

11. Kindling my memory and longing whenever
The doves cooed at dawn from the bushes

12. What sweet nights we spent together in the past
When youth and green spring were ours

13. When union, leisure, whims and friends
Gardens, music, fair company were ours

14. For a time we lived in ease and plenty
Young, playful, happy, fortunate

15. Days when my hair was black as pitch
And white sparks glinted in my dark eyes

16. Until the white of old age shone forth
In the black night of my youth

17. And dreams returned to mock me even in love
For what seems fair in youth seems otherwise in religion

18. Blessed is chastity when sincerely preserved
And secrecy when scandal threatens an honest name

19. Thanks be to God for an excellent age
The days of the glorious sons of Nubhan

20. The family of Attiq, Yemen’s nobility
Whose noble ancestors and fathers were lords of Azd

21. I swear by all the beauty that adorns the world
Only Yemen’s glorious kingly lines

22. Seeking lofty goals, attaining all they desire
Bestowing generously wherever they turn

23. True faithful friends and helpers of the Prophet
When his people called him liar and foe

24. Feeding the guest when the hot desert wind
Blows clouds of dust across the barren plain

25. When drought parches the land, their generosity
Falls like rain in time of need

26. Riding the noblest steeds, weapons at the ready
When raiding parties storm the fields

27. Bounty, valor, Yemeni pride and cunning
Resolve, sound judgment, lofty thought

28. Virtues that seem like collyrium to those who love them
And ugly, hateful flaws to envious eyes

29. Verses for Nubhan’s house, a fortress where
Grandeur always shines, a beacon blazing bright,

30. A race that brings the rain when the land is dry
The best of men, stars glowing through the night

31. They inherited all that’s fair and good and resemble
Each other in merit and grace, fathers and sons,

32. Brothers and cousins, all delight to love
Each other, intimates tending each other’s wounds

33. No resentment comes between them, no disdain
Thus intimate kin cleave close, good and kind

34. How excellent such ties of blood! Equal in rank,
The nobility marries its peer, perfect in laws

35. Right fortunate the star and destiny that shaped
Nubhan’s choice, Heaven’s gift and blessing signed

36. Choice guidance granted him for righteous works
God’s guidance leads man to walk in light

37. Wealth of faith and world redoubled, ease in both,
Double bounty from the Lord of all bestowed

38. Not all men gain such fortune from their Lord
But God gives gifts as He alone sees fit

39. In my father, Muhammad, virtues shine
Pure and precious as a string of flawless pearls

40. Courteous in word and deed, his ways refined,
Kindly creation, hating all that earned reproof

41. Sunrise playing on his brow foretells the dawn
Of boundless generosity’s golden day

42. Among Attiq’s noble line, the lord of Azd’s glory,
Sable banner and heart white as the light of faith

43. Fair traits surprise us not in him whose sire
Was Duhl, from whom is born only the best

44. Abu Hassan Duhl came with all that most adorns
And so his sons after him came

45. Long last Duhl in his sons together!
Glory and wealth theirs, now and for all their days!

46. And Nubhan lived to settle differences among them,
As wine and water blend at last in the bowl

47. Constant the flow of plentitude around them
As nights and days go on continual

48. Theirs bounty and gifts each day unceasing!
Theirs praise and song that shall not pass away!