1. We saw a wonder, and the age is a wonder,
Men, yet they have no hearts,

2. Statues carved in smooth rock, as if they are
Sons of a time when no Arab dwelt,

3. We came in delegations to pay homage, yet from their towns we got no share.
And whoever pitched his tents in the Suqah market

4. Has fresh leaves for visitors to nibble.
So at dawn we were Khusraw Parviz's guests,

5. A sojourn, but the courtyard there was barren.
By the walls of Qaraman, the caravan kept watch closely,

6. Coming and going, alert.
At the court of a glorious Sasanid king,

7. August, wearing the crown, awe-inspiring.
He kept his place between the Mukhtasir and Shirin,

8. Visible to all, yet close at hand.
He stood where lovers plead privately with their beloveds,

9. Though none gave ear or made reply.
You see them underneath misfortune's heaviest blows

10. Their faces worn by time's caprices.
They stood on their feet, indefatigable,

11. However long they had to stand erect.
Over them were clothes whose weaver was no tailor,

12. Rather, they were fashioned from deaf rock.
You marvel how cloaks could be cut for them

13. Or how buttons and pockets contrived.
For viewers they bared torsos with breasts beneath

14. That the winds might mold like dangling tresses.
They vividly portrayed each limb and feature

15. Except the soul, absent from their midst.
And the horseman, donned in mail, spear poised

16. In his mighty hand to jab—
He makes the onlooker think of his lifetime

17. So he pauses, heart pounding, amazed.
And all around, whatever God has created—

18. Statues whose workmanship shows no flaws.
A sky strewn with radiant stars,

19. An earth strewn with lovely gardens.
Wild beasts were sculpted there in every form,

20. Birds in flight, animals pacing in ranks.
And all kinds of people were accurately rendered—

21. Youth at play, old men tottering, graybeards.
A circle of friends filled with joy,

22. Slave girls singing, wine flowing.
Some hearth flames and blood of armies locked in battle,

23. Castles stormed, roads cut off.
From one side wine poured into cups,

24. From the other war flared up.
There the revelers singing melodies.

25. Their faces were so vivid that their expressions
Showed us good news or ill.

26. Each went about his task silently—
No words passed their lips.

27. A caliph amused himself there, roaming with his eyes,
And every man's son, if you observed, was playful.

28. Long they lived, but then time that devours all
Scattered them—time is cruelty to man.

29. Were it not for religion's enduringness, their loss
Would have brought tears and lamentation.

30. Kings who built what they built in glory
Later were divided into tribes and clans.

31. The viewer imagines, remembering their days,
A marvel, truly, if you saw it, a wonder—

32. A vision of them sent to every nation,
That the wise might draw a lesson.

33. Not mere mirages of the desert, but visions conjured
That multitudes might come and witness.

34. Viewers will perish, tribes vanish
Until only clans remain.

35. Inevitably the ordained day will come
When we hear the call and must answer.

36. O Khusraw, I love you for your justice alone,
Though your religion is distasteful to me.

37. Your deity is fire; your destination Hell—
Then you will see how the worshipers are scourged!

38. We Arabs surpassed the non-Arabs in gaining it—
Not through them did the land get its glory.

39. We originated it, then we will restore it a second time,
So sovereignty over it came early and late.

40. When Arab kings claim descent,
A Malik or an Urayb emerges.

41. Among the Prophet's clan no resemblance comes about.
Can heavenly water be contaminated?

42. So observe, on the day we boast, our pulpit
Will this honor reach the non-Arabs?

43. They once built up the world, heedless of religion,
Long ago caring little for religion.

44. While we put religion first when we began,
No avarice in men for worldly glory.

45. Now is an age in which neither thrives,
So patience, Umaym, though fates be harsh.

46. If we dislike matters as they stand, however splendid,
Still we were pleased when you spoke rashly.

47. Perhaps time will turn in our favor, bringing
Men unlike those in this age, noble men.

48. I am weary of socializing with them—all
Seem friendly, but yet strike me as corrupt.

49. A lifelike statue carved in rock pleased me,
Standing there, not disappearing from view.

50. Harmless by nature—no life for a lad
With a man nearby he dreads will hurt him.

51. Tomorrow he'll stand there, feeding the men who come to him,
When a stranger far from home seeks hospitality.

52. Were it not for the things left behind by loved ones,
I would have stayed with him as long as Unsayb.

53. Would any deny me, if people's cruelty hurts me,
The love of a silent glance that strikes home?

54. The sons of this age are despots, too,
Turned to stone bodies, but stone hearts.

55. When morning came they were miscreant rebels,
So diverse torments and punishments struck them.

56. If they were wrought in rock to do good,
They are a torrent of evil when terror descends.

57. In reason's eye happier is a statue
Though each is destined for death and decay.

58. It stood there harming no one,
Then passed away without sins recorded.

59. Not so one who lingered, living long,
As time recorded misdeeds against him.