1. With my complaints of an era I faced,
I forgot the pleasures of the past days.

2. So do not remind me of Najd and its people,
When the wind blows or lightning flashes.

3. Today, in my conscience there is no place
For remembering the joy that has passed.

4. Even if some worries left my heart,
I would not recall except my serene home.

5. By God, I won’t forget their era no matter
My state of anger or consent with fate.

6. They are my soul so without their existence
In a lover's heart despite the distance, life ends.

7. May God guard a people who bid farewell
To loved ones, separated by time’s decree.

8. When their memory appears before my eyes,
My travel feels cramped despite the vast space.

9. How can I, O Umayma, pretend patience
While my heart is prone to yearning’s assault?

10. I have no substitute for them if I sought it,
Even if it was what I had once desired.

11. This holiday has delighted everyone with its play
Yet increased my heart’s agony when they were absent.

12. The approach of friends and the departure of loved ones
Have truly sickened and inflamed my heart.

13. So leave me to my sorrows and take coffee yourself,
It drew flames from the shining light when poured.

14. A potion, when your right hand holds its cup,
You carry a sword against worries to smite them.

15. Its redness returns to the drinker’s cheek
When the pourer passes it his way.

16. When you turn the glass yellow with its color,
You leave my cheek streaming with tears.

17. How can I endure when longing unleashes my tears,
Composing a turbulent sea I wish to still?

18. I hope their memory moves fate
For after them my eyelids did not close.

19. They shunned me, broke our bond,
So the sweetness of life shunned me too.

20. I swear were it not for your face’s light
I would not see a bright day after them.

21. But the pride of leadership shone my way,
With a face that illuminates every horizon.

22. It calmed, clarified all darkened matters,
And was generous, enriching the needful.

23. A gallant who bestows bounty from his palm’s edge,
When the ignoble stretch out their hands pleading.

24. An eloquent one whose speech almost makes
The mute converse with the outpouring of dew from his hand.

25. I am amazed by a palm constantly open from him,
From which he controls the destinies of men.

26. If I could emulate his deeds, it would be right
To enact laws making them compulsory.

27. Two boon companions never leaving his side or counsel.
Two intimates never parted from his judgment and action.

28. The hissing of enemies is in the pen passing
Over paper before him with a scratching sound.

29. When he promises the hopeful in his words,
He depicts a garden with blossoms on its edges.

30. If he threatens the sinful, his warning arrives
As if there were lions roaring on its outskirts.

31. If people narrate to you the history of his ancestors,
Listen with pride as it lengthens and expands.

32. Through him the eminent house was firmly established,
While the base man’s house crumbled.

33. It is enough that you are the chiefs’ pride,
When fate elevates some people and degrades others.

34. You see the hoped-for goodness in the family of Qasim
Like the full moon among the stars arrayed.

35. They are the leaders of mankind and he is their chief,
Lofty ones frustrating the envious.

36. How the eternal kingdom was pained when it saw
Its garment torn by the fangs of time.

37. He came to its aid, repelling with his shoulder
The tribulations of fate, dispelling them.

38. You remain an unbreachable bastion of glory,
When fate draws back its bow of afflictions.

39. I will never forget your feats by which
You repelled the back of the stubborn foe.

40. I wish time could lend me wings,
That I may attain the heights and soar.

41. And devote my life happily in your presence,
Forsaking the wretchedness of villains.

42. To be at your right hand in battle, a sword,
Moving as you decree when brandished.

43. But when you resolve a matter I desire,
Fate refuses except to undo and breach it.

44. Yet I give sincere advice and goodwill,
As befits your bounty you have bestowed.

45. I speak frankly of what you deserve,
Even if none existed, refusing to be silent.

46. I declaim my praise to you openly,
And mention my dependence on you directly.

47. I will do my best in the task assigned me,
When duty takes me from you to another.

48. My remaining time will not spare the days
If they slander me, for me to counter them.

49. Will you curb the times that trouble me?
For I see only provocateurs among the people.

50. Grant me a place in your acceptance in the world,
And honor a loyal friend enamored of you.

51. May the turns of fate while you steer it,
Be submissive, and make foes yield.

52. So it will strive as you wish when glory strives,
And flow as you desire when destiny flows.

53. The gifts of fate to its people are loans,
Never reclaiming the bounty it has lent to you.

54. Before you in the field of my thoughts is a forerunner,
When the steeds of poetry race their rival.

55. It comes to you though its status
Does not reach the point of illuminating or reaching you.

56. Has God elevated you beyond that,
Turning to it and clothing it in your acceptance.

57. For in the past you accepted my words,
And what you accept, no doubt, is approved.

58. How many tongues diminish poetry’s right,
As if poetry can be pruned and docked!

59. So live on with your horses never ceasing
To score triumphs in the arena of fate.

60. And live safely no matter how the horizon changes,
At times blackening, at others brightening, for onlookers.