1. Did you not see what Ibn al-Yas did one day
When longing and purpose led him

2. To turn his steed towards me, and it bore
The tracks of a precious, generous camel

3. He composed novelties in his poems out of love
Though he did not see me nor was I present

4. So I said: Do you not know me, O learned one
In your every state, before and after?

5. Of old, you did not cease to love and honor me
And promise me the dew, and you were true to your word

6. So do not deny me a borrowed robe
When resolutions weaken and slacken

7. For not all men are to you Ibn Warqa
Nor is all time upon you good fortune

8. My nights show me what they have brought him
In his gestures lightning and thunder

9. You praised people and the world like a bride
In her clothes, myrtle, and roses

10. And you reviled poetry and the world like an old woman
Though the base and vile have enriched themselves through her