1. Patience is an effort, however natural
A star's vigil, however fixed, is a burden

2. Water flows clean only when stirred
In my heart the wounds of love fester

3. Love remains ever keen in my being
Passion wanes, yearning lives on like sap in wood

4. The lovesick, whose body desire makes sweet
Suffering from love, abandoned, is esteemed

5. My friend slept while I lay awake
Patience in any state is praiseworthy

6. Water us, oh days in Karakh, for you
Are favored over all other days combined

7. We blame no visitors and desire only
Ravishing songs, passions are our firewood

8. Your messengers hasten to meet our needs
Signs from my sweetheart, promises made

9. Until the days changed and once
Pristine white, turned to black

10. Then misfortunes came one by one
Brought on by the snows of old age

11. I dislike old age only because it’s a reason
For the aloofness of the tender maidens

12. No matter how I forget, I won't forget she who wrote
Planter of love, the union is foreordained

13. How often I've stood concealed by her door
Make haste, for you're noticed and observed

14. So gently I said, “My lady, be kind
To your most fervent, devoted admirer”

15. She said to her neighbor, after she’d pitied
My frail condition, desires unfulfilled:

16. “O wretched fool misled by us,
Between us sense and sensibility stand guard

17. Without your union, doors stay barred
As you can see, despite your zeal

18. Do you not see the door flanked
By singing troupes, praised and adored?

19. They'll leave us be for an hour, then
The doors to the house are bolted once more.”

20. Nothing left but rebukes from my brother
Followed by blame and angry words

21. If only his reproof contained
Fondness soft as downy cloth

22. Then it would crumble away leaving no trace
As if etched in solid rock

23. This, by the Lord of the barren land—no friend within—
Where songs sound laments in the deadly night

24. A desolate, wasted plain lit up at dusk
Its bare flat land beyond my sight

25. Roamed by howling wolves, haunt of snakes
With shrill hissing filling the emptiness

26. Ostriches wander silently, guarding
Mirages from the eyes of men

27. Like rows of date palms ravaged by storms
Sandblasting traces of fronds into oblivion

28. I promised my friend, after the scent
Of his eyes revived me, dispelling the gloom

29. And the Pleiades rose radiant
Like grapes ripening in the heights of heaven

30. But he refused, denying me aid
Alas, only my lightning helps me in the dark nights

31. None dare ride out but the most reckless
Whose eyes pierce the dark, seeking adventure

32. No brother helped when disaster struck
Except my brother, a hunter needing no nets

33. Then I spurred my steed, courage but madness,
Lost in the trackless waste, reaping only thorns

34. While holding the reins at dawn, the beast reared up
Froth splattering its cheeks like pearls

35. When the sun crowned its head, and larks
Started warbling in the flaming heat,

36. I led it to cool sweet water, guarded by
A fearless lion, its muzzle bloodstained

37. With three braids in its mane, wide of chest
Hooves pounding the earth like a hammer

38. When it opened its great maw, you would see
Each fang bowed down in submission

39. It was chewing the bit when along came
An evil mongrel, a pestilence on four legs

40. Seen me downcast, it swaggered past
Scorn in its eyes, hatred in its heart

41. When it noticed my naked sword, pulverizer
Of bones, severer of sinew and muscle

42. It lowered its head, lying prostrate
While the vultures circled, awaiting carrion

43. I dealt it a forceful blow to the head
Felling it, its blood soaking the sand

44. A second cut ended its wretched life
My sword baptized anew with fresh slaughter

45. I left it there, the birds of prey descending
To feast on it, abandoned in the waste

46. Gazelles watched me, and if they had voice
Would thank me, as custom dictates

47. A riddle had stumped the wise for ages
Perplexing minds reputed for intellect

48. I unraveled it after minds were frustrated
A knot untied, a tapestry unwoven

49. This was managed though the path ahead
Appeared closed, and deprivation stared me down

50. Fate supported me in my trials and
In good times, showed me kindness

51. Until the days of hardship passed
And life reversed its downward spiral

52. Then I found myself bereft in a land
Whose people excel in villainy and deceit

53. No door opens but I enter through it
Glory and nobility lost, only baseness within

54. A people who sell their own for profit
A rotten commerce, an illegitimate trade