1. I have never tasted anything more bitter than this
Amidst prosperity, affluence, and dates

2. I braved fears, bandits, and the tents
Of the Banu ‘Amr, amidst the winds

3. In those twisting valleys, between
The rising and ebbing tides

4. And waves like mountains, when the sailor
Furrows through them seeking deliverance

5. Until when the ill-omened one reached
The exalted river's bank, by the bridge

6. Misfortunes befell me there, though
I was unaware, I know not whence

7. And talkative slave boys came
Successively like drops of rain

8. Until they had loaded for their day
What the sailor had lowered in a month

9. So spare me your negligence, if I ask you
And soothe my breast by answering me

10. How did you judge it right, with your uniqueness
Above all creation, in arrogance and pride

11. To spurn me without cause
With no excuse you cling to or reason

12. A gift that came to your poet
From other than you, of cherished worth

13. It's as if I never wove for you
In your praise a verse of poetry

14. Or clothed you in perfumed robes
With praise in my verse and prose

15. Or spread among the settlements the mention of you
Beyond the perfume sellers' musk bags

16. By the one to whom the pilgrims' aspire
And the House of curtains and stones

17. As long as I look upon your faces
Will I attain success in my latter days

18. And I will weep—such is my state with you—
For what you wasted of my life

19. And you will know who is foolish when
I leave you and you recognise my worth