1. The trace of her is gone though her fall took long in coming,
And she decays not save her decay is long in duration,

2. Moving lightly she outstrips lightning in her going,
When the guide calls how swift is her course,

3. Attractors of bounty's remains in the encampments
Baring their profits however small they be,

4. Lamps that direct the light to her band
At night with their trotting and the darkness lit with their torches,

5. Breaking the ropes violently in their haste
When their herd appears in the dawn with its foremost,

6. Over it are the youths of Yemen, slaves
Taking booty and plunder, wanton in greed,

7. When the days of glory are recalled they are cut to the heart
So that their litters toss with the writhing of their ribs,

8. A company aspiring to glory essayed it and all
Were desirous of the rising of the noble stars,

9. They pass the night, their pillows the palms of their hands
On the bare earth, the open desert their couch,

10. She cast at the breast of the foe seeking demands
Hoping after despair her dawn might draw nigh,

11. A threat from the days of evil omen and this
Is the land of glory where eyes weep in dread,

12. Shall I seek to replace the generous? But they are gone
And their meadows are left empty and waste,

13. And command my age to restore their days?
But that, by my life, is a thing it will not obey,

14. May God water the season of the noble ones in their bounty
With the first rains, initiating their pouring,

15. But it went not save with tears whose clouds
Rained them down, or with clouds raining tears,

16. The eras of generous kings have passed away
And so my eyes for them are little given to weeping,

17. It is nothing but the soul whose going has undone me
And naught will revive me save its returning,

18. I guarded the love of the fair lady, loving, nor wasted it
Though among men there was both guardian and squanderer,

19. No soul safely contended against its contention
Unless it strongly strove in its resolve,

20. Among men is he who freely assents, patient in spirit
Unless a grave event occurs whereat he is perturbed,

21. The zeal of Zayn al-Mulk's generosity has protected my thoughts
So no terrible misfortune disquiets them,

22. Suffice this noble state pride he restores it
That you, O son of the generous, obey it,

23. For if you be in war, you are its swords,
And if you be in dearth, you are its springtide,

24. It knows if you were the first to rise up
To save it till its fearful were reassured,

25. And the first victory to bring victory to its rule
And war was plied with bared blades,

26. And the first openings, from Father of Openings brought,
With the dawn its horsemen came forth,

27. So how many a battle after battle it sufficed
Leaving the dead poured out in pools,

28. With steeds white of flank as though they were
Secrets of the mouths of lances they proclaimed,

29. And horses challenging with necks forward, their charge
As lightning flashes in the night with its glare,

30. Coming on indifferently though when arrows were shot
They struck not but glanced from their coats,

31. On the morrow as though the necks were a loved one caressed
And their harvest was reaped by the swordsman,

32. As though the battle steeds were the enemies' throats
So they did not remain save bowing knees,

33. Sublime days when numbered, ears would wonder
At their tales when heard in their entirety,

34. If you describe Khurasan's harvest which
Your pens defend today from all who would covet,

35. In this is no glory, before you described it already
In your labors the realms all together,

36. With the aid of Banu Mansur their affairs coincided
Else their structures would have collapsed in ruins,

37. Far reaching in might and generosity but
Only the vicious and benefiters rule the earth,

38. How oft he poured on the weak torrents of gifts
With a hand whose clouds of favor rained on the infants,

39. And how oft he cast down the enemies by his assaults
Casting them down in death without hope of revival,

40. O glory-winning he arises while the cold of dawn
Cloaks him, unique on earth in might and valor,

41. Bringing glad tidings of hope to men by his good tidings
As the dawn has spread its lights abroad,

42. And makes the prices of praise his possessions
If he spares wealth one day in its assemblage,

43. Who shall buy the noble ones, most generous in manner
When the noble offer themselves, or who shall sell them?

44. Incline your protected hearing to the plaint of events
From a soul little accepting of time's abasement,

45. My free time in your days of busyness, a sickness
That will ring loud in the ears of the noble,

46. In me cities flourished when their lofty ones declined
Out of confusion, their nights and honour lost,

47. We deferred what the people advanced ahead of us
By the vicissitudes of wondrous time's contriving,

48. The excuse of the sons of the age, an insolence
Stripped bare, frustrating hopes by its intercession,

49. By my life that is the path to wealth in the age
But where is one who is able to walk it?

50. I will traverse the horizons of the lands on a journey
Surveying them to gather spoils or prove my excuse

51. By a striving, perhaps the vast world will not straiten,
The brilliant night is nothing but the truth

52. That a dejected dawn will be revealed from it,
Your thanks are my provision wherever I went, a eulogy

53. As befits its admiration and composition,
For you I will compose every ode

54. And rhyme whose beauty enraptures minds,
Abbreviated in verses, appearing as if they were

55. The stars of nightfall, singular and coupled,
When the battle of tongues bears witness to censure

56. And the lances of blame were shaken, they were its armor,
Still you remain in fortune's shadow, pasturing

57. The meadows of bliss that never dry,
Nor have your noble sons ceased to be a band

58. Before the lofty, their assemblage unbroken,
Like a necklace of pearls whose band is not parted

59. By any state, nor is its height feared to diminish,
Theirs are lofty souls, so from prohibitions

60. Their adornment, and in knowledge's garden their pasturing,
You were generous and excelled in merit yourself and people

61. Else boughs would not have leafed from their roots,
Still you are to the exalted a shining sun

62. Adorning the sky of graces with its rising,
When witnessing of bodies is the battlefield of tongues