1. To whom shall I dedicate my poetry?
I do not know to whom I should direct it.

2. When times grew dark with worry,
And the turns of fate alternated,

3. The even and the odd were lost,
And the dawn was sworn upon.

4. I grew confused, not knowing what
I should do in my matter,

5. Although I am experienced
With the times and days.

6. But confusion has intoxicated me
Without drink.

7. It is as if I were created
Only for toil and harm.

8. Since I was pushed
To poverty and destitution,

9. What shall I do in Egypt
If I have no luck in Egypt?

10. And in the horizons are people
Who incline toward my poetry.

11. And I was told that the people
Do not lack mention of me.

12. Why then abandon the journey
When there is no excuse in that?

13. I have brought my burdens
And traveled the first of the month.

14. But most of the foolishness
I have sailed into the sea,

15. While the rest remains with me
Carried on land upon my back.

16. I shall leave in Egypt
No trace of the foolishness of mention.

17. So let whoever comes after me
Delight in prosody and prose,

18. And let whoever plays with his head
From age until age,

19. And let whoever from the severity of blows
Has a head without hair,

20. And whoever's skull is harder
Than rock against blows,

21. And whoever trumpets with his chin
Without measure or limit,

22. And whoever plucks out his whiskers
And the moustaches of the youths.

23. But I was not
For the grandeur that was in me,

24. If I was ordered blows,
I shrank away in retreat.

25. Alas! You will never see blows
Upon another pass me by.

26. O culmination of generosity!
O you of glory and pride!

27. O son of noble chiefs!
O son of shining stars!

28. O more radiant than the sun
In splendor and than the moon!

29. Why do you not chastise
The days and fate?

30. Pure-tailed gallant one,
Scion of noble chiefs!

31. Generous by origin and nature,
Open of hand and chest!

32. Freely bestowing, not prevented
From benevolence and righteousness!

33. He has never ceased to extend
To all who know him, his hands.

34. His hands have encompassed
All the nomads and the settled!