1. The doves of the vale stirred up passions in me,
So let our true friend weep profusely and passionately,

2. How long will this yearning last over the years?
Did the old covenant make you forget?

3. Is this wailing for other than the twittering, and is
The loss of the dearest of people not a loss?

4. I found no female companion in any east or west
Who brings back the melody to the branches.

5. As I found betrayal in my people,
And time that has long deceived us,

6. When patience prevents my tears upon the mention of them
Sorrow says: "Pour out freely and be unrestrained!"

7. They said, show anguish - but who did they say? And whenever
I am singled out with misery, my sorrows do not cease

8. My soul did not speak to me of consolation after them
Nor did my consolation come or go,

9. Death did not lure my people into their destruction
Nor did it pick them off two by two or alone,

10. I was patient about them with the patience of one who does good
And I faced tribulations about them - honored or disgraced

11. And I followed the example of those before me - for how many
Lost a brother and how many parted from family and neighbor!

12. But the goblet of death intoxicated them amidst their gathering
They bowed their heads in submission,

13. And a calamitous affliction surprised them
It made them drink from the cups of death thirstily,

14. They all died in the blink of an eye and became extinct
Do you see any human left for the eye?

15. A group of steadfast ones - If one of tainted lineage were with me
Were dearer to me at critical moments.

16. Time did not leave for me a heart after their loss
That I would empower with patience and consolation,

17. If they saw me, they would say: “Our happiest died
And the one aggrieved and sorrowful survived,”

18. Death did not leave anyone from them to inform me about them
To clarify plainly what they met,

19. They perished together - amazing that tribulations
Destroyed builders and construction,

20. These are their palaces - now they are their graves
Thus they were in them before - inhabitants

21. Woe to the earthquakes! They destroyed my band
So that whenever I remember them, I become drunk with grief,

22. O sons of my father - Even if a time of aggression
Against you besides this creation has passed

23. Neither the ardour of my heart nor my weeping upon you
Will perish nor will time make you two faded garments,

24. You have spoiled the rest of my life left for me
So I do not cease being downcast and subservient in it.

25. I was singled out from you - And life does not clear up
For one singled out even if he attains the pleasure of pleasure,

26. I wish I were with them or would that they
Had survived and nothing comes between us anymore,

27. I would meet coldness from them just as
I have met worries and sorrows from after them,

28. If not for the gloating of enemies when mentioning them
My tears would have burst out on the ground,

29. I want to pour out my overflowing tears in their channels
So the waters of tears become fires,

30. After the earthquakes - as long as I live
I will not meet time except as one confused in heart,

31. They betrayed my band of nobles so
They took from them elders, youths, and children.

32. How the tyrant sought to take them but returned frustrated
From what he sought - anguished,

33. Their fortress did not protect them from it nor did it
Fear the might it boasted of for ages,

34. A destiny came to them - no precaution saved them from it
And is there any precaution for the fated?

35. If S S was emptied of them, they made
Its lofty walls with plaster and wood impervious.

36. They protected it - Had you seen it and them in it
You would have seen lions and young lions,

37. For one who feared injustice or the tyranny of a sovereign
They were like a cave, and for a wanted fugitive, neighbors.

38. Their glory transcended the sword of Saif bin Dhi Yazan
As S S transcended its sheath in glory,

39. They were a refuge for orphans, widows
And wretches who lost family and home.

40. When you come to them, you find some of them
Receiving and guests,

41. You see them in calamity as lions, and on the day of calling, rain
Yielding and in darkness, monks.

42. I tried to conceal my weeping after their loss
But my aggrieved heart could not withstand concealment

43. Perhaps one who knows the matter of how
We stuck together and what drew us apart

44. Would say out of speculation - since he does not know my nature
Nor my loyalty - whoever appeared or hid,

45. “It did not bother Osama to lose his band” -
How they aroused his chest with rage and grudges!

46. He did not know that in my heart their loss caused
A blazing fire and flooding in the eyelids.

47. Sons of my father and sons of my uncle - his blood is their blood
Even if they see defiance and hatred in me!

48. They were my wings - but tribulations clipped them
And my brothers - so the days did not leave me brothers,

49. They were my swords when I engaged in an ordeal
And my armour when facing barefaced calamities

50. With them I overcome frightening matters when
It happens and faces the frowning of fate impetuously,

51. So how can I have patience without them when they strung
My tears for their loss into pearl necklaces and coral?

52. It comforts the soul about them that they moved on
And left me behind upon their fresh tracks,

53. May the earth they were entrusted with in mercy give them drink
And may their graves fill with spirit and basil,

54. And may God clothe those bones even if
They have decayed under the earth with pardon and forgiveness.