1. He watered a dwelling between the meadows and the lost,
Every rugged valley sang with delight,

2. And he greeted the relics of the flourishing with yearning,
A greeting that neither flows spontaneously nor says.

3. And when we stood in the abodes they appeared to us
Desolations amid wild beasts and lairing places.

4. We were not beguiled from friendly gatherings
By an aversion to wild things and a deserted ruin.

5. Blessed are the cottages, a place of leisure and sport,
In which I while away the idleness of the unemployed.

6. We will have from halting in their shade
Distressing adventures and ruinous marches.

7. Does a homeland complain of one whom you love?
What use are ruins, night travelers, and vestiges?

8. How could we be consoled by clubs of tamarisk
And sand dunes instead of fortresses and strongholds?

9. Nights of mirth when the wine is passing round,
Pure wine is the tryst and the youths are in their prime.

10. God’s garment of youth was stolen from me
And I was left in a coat of hoary age.

11. I accompanied my time, bade farewell to adversity,
Rarely did a care or woe cross my mind,

12. My robe of youth fluttering anew
From a life of ease and flowing copiousness.

13. Yet here am I after safety and health
Aching, cleaving to pains and moaning,

14. Patching together a lifetime ruined by its nights
How much can a decrepit fabric be patched?

15. I turned aside from this world, no more aspiring
To glance at its plenty, possessing no goods or money,

16. And I turned away uncaring, indifferent to it,
Leveling and decreasing have no hold over me,

17. I have no radiance left during the nights,
It is as though my hopes died with the grey hairs,

18. Today I care not how my days and fortunes
Have tossed and turned after their wont,

19. And had not time with its events kept me back
I would have taken flight from all desolate places,

20. Braving its perils in the gloom of night,
Hurling them into the dark dawn's surging waves,

21. I was not content to sit idle, but misfortunes
Cast me with their terrors into dire straits,

22. Yet I trust in the vizier's generosity,
That he will shower on me today what my state lacks,

23. He will revive my hopes and raise me from my fall,
And favor what is missing from my faded years,

24. I will make it my reserve and store,
Honoring myself, for honor is better than wealth,

25. Protecting my virtue and guarding my side,
The like of Al-Malik Al-Adil, who guarded his peers,

26. If worries beset me in my time,
I will unload my burdens and packs onto him,

27. I will release my mounts into the meadow of charity
And extend my robes in the quarter of noble deeds,

28. With Obeidallah is what I have asked of Fate
In abounding grace and lavishing favor,

29. A vizier who clothed authority with splendor
When its time was fruitless and lacking fortune,

30. Who conducted affairs and did not pass
A night confused between neglect feared or planned,

31. If at times clouds from fate obscured,
Afterwards it cleared with pouring rain,

32. With arms mighty to shake the enemies' steps,
However violent the earthquake and tremors,

33. He takes the black and white into the fray
With hands of young warriors, heroes and braves,

34. He wards off peril when the cane thicket stirs,
And if the rabbits' tails bristle he is the shooer,

35. His neighbor dwells in safety, for his neighborhood
Is better for the exile than family and riches,

36. He follows words with action magnanimously,
Not everyone who prates is like him in deeds,

37. His knowledge is matched by deeds to grow more beautiful
O how many learned yet lack accomplishment!

38. The Commander of the Faithful tested him but found
No deviation from the path of truth or leaning,

39. And burdened him with his duties but he lightened them
With the shoulder of a will equal to great tasks.

40. You have descended, company of poets, upon
The sweetest springs, flowing copious and clear,

41. After despair you were given to drink
A draught from his gifts, pure and fresh,

42. You gained riches after want and hardship,
And fruitfulness after drought and bareness,

43. You all boast, roaming every region,
Between encamping and traveling with ease,

44. While he who is uncouth, basely nourished,
His breast stained with sin, treachery his habit,

45. Built his affair on delusion as though
Upon a dune of sand destined to collapse,

46. Unaware that fate's changes flow,
And the nights last not in a single state,

47. He followed a plan that would be his ruin
And ignited a fire that he would feed,

48. Your excellent intention deluded him
O slowness which hastens the envious!

49. You left no remnant of enemies, but only
Neglect and disregard remained of them,

50. You are dressed in garments of brilliant fortune
Today you don the finest of raiment,

51. Blended with light glancing from its brilliance
A ray like the sun's gleam dispelling sorrows,

52. And a flowing sleeve underneath and a turban
Whose darkness amid fate's cheek is like a mole,

53. And the sheen of smooth composure, adorned,
The accustomed garb of kings who bequeathed it and others,

54. A scion of the noble lineage of A'awaj, pure,
Generous forebears, kin, and family,

55. Eyes delight to look upon him as though
He were a meadow of flowers, a slender doe,

56. He passes by the face of the earth which imagines
His gait to be droplets trickling smooth,

57. He sauntered inevitably toward you though it is
A gait of coquetry, not amorous overture,

58. Wandering with a docile gray steed as though
Its crescents were before and behind,

59. Not as they supposed, mounted for splendor
But mounted for might and esteem,

60. Accompanied by a dark polished mare
An Iraqi, Bahriyya, mother of children,

61. Who, when they pace around her seeking her teats
Flow with provision which pours and runs,

62. Formidable such that every mailed warrior fears him
Silent, scorning all who prattle idly,

63. With Indian blades that mock wild beasts
Sending every bronze knight astray,

64. So many around it seeking refuge,
Coming to it in delegations and requests!

65. You were granted, Abu al-Muzaffar, a rank
To which you ascended, lofty and sublime,

66. The possessions of the Muluk are still
Branded by your sword after disregard,

67. Nor did its herds and horses diminish
Tribes of shepherds and governors over it,

68. You filled an Eid heralding by its return
Years which pass in cycles and seasons,

69. When its clothes and musk are remade
Change them with fresh honor and fortune!