1. May the wheel of fate awake one day and rise,
Revealing its veiled face,

2. And clear my path to supreme heights,
Dispersing the throngs of adversity and swarms of misfortunes.

3. Then I will attain the farthest goals aspired to
By ambition, and noble quests will rise high.

4. And time’s tyrant who oppresses
Will do justice, as pearls and worn stones are sifted in its market.

5. An era of hypocrisy that fears affluence in its people
And disparages lineage.

6. So I have faced much blame from it
And many bitter days filled with suffering.

7.
Its children were fooled that I

8. Laughed while feeling no wonder.
So they thought my humility was abasement

9. And that defiance hid beneath my silence.
Yet behind my smile at them

10. Lies a heart weeping with sorrows.
And a sword may roar, not from fear,

11. As a spear may bend, not from joy.
So praiseworthy is my brother Azma

12. Who saw oppression in his homeland and became estranged.
Why did I accept living in the land of disgrace

13. As if there were nowhere on earth I could escape?
The vicissitudes of life

14. Have told me I will attain them closely
And that if I strive diligently

15. I will reach the highest ranks.
So how could I endure degradation

16. When one is with whom one loves?
A man ridiculed by pens

17. Gilded with lofty ambition and whitened determination,
Whose regiments in battle are his books

18. And his views their covers and binding,
Noble in his ways, called upon

19. To veil dishonor and relieve distress,
From a people whose ally is not secure

20. Nor is their pact of kinship firmly tied.
Before their tyrannies the lions crouch

21. And the grouse suffer with the clouds.
Through them my reputation spread amongst people

22. And my merit was linked to their generosity.
Yet when I attached it to them

23. My hand clung with feeble ties.
I was shielded from the harm they could do

24. By a stick that, when touched, burns.
And I relied on the glorious Majid

25. When the nights overwhelmed him, he overcame.
Of refined nature and open-handedness

26. Sweetly good-humored and bitter when wrathful.
He is rain, should drought spread, rewarding;

27. A lion, should war stir, pouncing.
I seek his protection from the blood of aggressors

28. Or blood of foes, gushing forth.
A generous one, to whose door

29. Hopes flock and quests cling.
No shade diminishes his benevolence

30. Nor does the sun of his kindness set.
When he speaks, he utters most eloquently

31. And when he gives, he bestows most generously,
A call that wins the hearts of enviers

32. And might that repels the stubborn transgressor,
Who protects his honor and guards his neighbor

33. While his wealth lies exposed, ready to be plundered,
Trusting that he will only gain from it

34. What is spent while the rest will vanish.
Had it not been for death, the noble would perish

35. Bounty would fade and propriety suffer injustice.
When the shade of men narrowed

36. I resorted to its flourishing branch.
So the question exhausted the faces of the vessels

37. While my cheek, still full, was undrained.
When the virtuous, glorious Arrahi

38. Whose merits transcend any title
Revived me with his hands, so say to the clouds:

39. “Stay or go as you wish, rain still or pour!”
His help satisfied me after poverty’s nights

40. And smoothed the wrinkles of deprivation.
His gifts made my diminished lot happy

41. As it clung to his palm and was pulled along.
So my withered branches flourished again

42. As the branch gains leaves after being stripped bare.
O star of my fortune that does not set!

43. O rain of my land that does not cease!
For your sake, one who hoards his money

44. Deems merits the gathering of gold;
Slow in generous deeds

45. Yet quick to deeds that ruin ranks.
If he makes a promise with his clenched fist

46. He will break it, even if he spoke with lies.
He disappoints the hopeful

47. Repeating the wretchedness of misfortune.
He harbors hatred in his soul

48. While the embers of malice burn in his chest.
When he sees you, his limbs grow cold

49. Yet inside, a blaze burns.
So take from my praise what I can express

50. For my words fall short of what is deserved,
And for you, may my prayers as a loyal friend

51. Purify, and the longing of a lover call.
Brides I had not, while composing their verse,

52. Groped in dark night or gathered firewood.
Of them, when assembled

53. Their fathers and records approved.
With them, the hearts of narrators

54. Became filled, and the volumes of books.
Their tales of you traverse lands

55. So which desolate encampment did they not reach?
I presented them to you openly

56. Not as personal gain but loyalty to your glory.
So you remain heir to the age

57. Wearing out the garb of eternity,
As the passing years herald your kingdom