1. Blameworthy are you though blame recoils from you,
Your deeds surpass all talk.

2. Leave me be, though trackless is the wilderness
My face, the veil torn asunder.

3. I find rest in this, though that does weary me,
Halting, not roaming, my wont.

4. My steeds’ eyes guide when sight fails me.
Each she-camel’s foal, my tribe entire.

5. I seek the waters sans guide, none but my count
Of lightning streaks through the clouds’ loom.

6. My Lord and sword suffice my tribe,
When the lone soul cries for aid.

7. No guest am I in misers’ abodes,
My only shelter, ostrich plumes.

8. So when goodwill in people soured like milk,
I returned smiles for smiles in kind.

9. I doubt even those I thought elect,
For I know, we are all but human.

10. The wise love sincerely, fools for show;
I scorn a brother to my mother and sire,

11. If he lack all nobility.
Sires oft outdo sons in villainy.

12. No ancestor’s glory contents me,
If valor he did not evince.

13. I wonder at one with grit yet runs
As prey while predator he could have been.

14. One who can reach the heights should not then leave
His mount unsaddled, reins astray.

15. In people's faults I find none worse
Than failing at what they perfect could.

16. In Egypt have I stayed, no more beyond me
Or ahead can my steed now fare.

17. My sickbed palls, my side now pines
For meetings that may never come.

18. Few care for me, my heart is sick,
Many envy, harsh my plight.

19. Weak in body, unable to rise,
Drunk without wine, such is my bane.

20. My lover comes to me as if ashamed,
Only under night’s cover she’ll draw near.

21. I offered up my coat, my rations,
She refused them all, down to my bones.

22. My hide shrinks from my flesh and hers,
Which she expands with every other woe.

23. When she leaves me, still she’ll wash me
As if we both in penance were.

24. As if the dawn were chasing her, she runs,
Four tears flow down like swords stabbed in.

25. I watch her times with no yearning,
As the enamored watches his beloved.

26. And her promise is true, though truth can be
Dire when deep sorrow it does confirm.

27. To me, all womankind like daughters are,
How did you pass through the throng to me?

28. You have wounded one already wounded beyond cure,
No place in him for swords or arrows more.

29. Oh would that I knew if my hands might one day
Take reins or hold the bridle’s straps!

30. Shall I toss my love to dancing girls
With anklets on their platforms jingling loud?

31. How often I have healed my bosom’s wounds
With horse or canal or sword in hand!

32. Straitened the path, I slipped out from it
As wine slips free from the flask’s swollen womb.

33. Without farewells, I left my darling one,
Without greetings, I left the lands beyond.

34. The doctor says, “You’ve eaten such and such,”
But my malady is in my food and drink.

35. It vexes him that I’m a steed
Whose body is weakened by prolonged thirst.

36. Who grew used to roaming through manor houses
And plunging from darkness into darkness more.

37. Now held back, no more range does he have,
Neither pasture, nor tether, nor rein.

38. If I fall ill, still my patience is unmarred,
If I go blind, still my resolve is firm,

39. And if I die, nothing remains, but I have passed
From sanctuary to sanctuary of my soul.

40. Take your pleasure in sleep or rest,
Yearn not for tombs beneath the earth.

41. For the third of life’s states has meaning
Other than your heedfulness, or dreams.