1. I made them drink the juicy wine long ago,
Then this was their time of spring.

2. I knew them when living with them was joy,
Neither did the two censures hurt their reputation,

3. Nor did they show any desire for a glancing coquette
Who would sever my tie from their kinship.

4. So I wonder if they have any wish
Or I shall find one day instead of them,

5. Or if a youth who weeps is excused
If he is a concerned, deserving successor of them.

6. Obliged with yearning, he does not forget them,
Grants them love and keeps their covenant,

7. And fulfills vows when he sees them
And one day his living and their living return.

8. No, by the Lord of the Throne, he will not meet them
Nor will his feast and their feast return.

9. And how can an old man meet them
When time has passed and their star has fallen?

10. Stop counting yourself among their mention
And aim towards others besides them.

11. This, and I have seen myself, so I have not blamed
My opinion when men blame their opinion.

12. I call on Ibn Sahl, his glory,
When my family's matter has burdened me.

13. I remain calling his name and besides him
Are many people whom I have left.

14. I chose him over them,
And they have no fault and I do not blame them.

15. They slept, so when I saw their sleep
I endured it and did not wake them up.

16. O son of honorable parents, great over the great,
Your knee adorned with lasting beauty and their weight,

17. They were the nobles who conquered all,
None in the two worlds are like them.

18. They built all the glory in the past
And you build it likewise after them.

19. In a noble, supported honor,
No builder built it but them before them.

20. So O son of Sahl, and son of forefathers whom
Were intimate friends long ago, so their excellence,

21. By Allah, you do not spend a morning among a people
Unless you are their sun and their full moon.

22. And people are grasping, like stagnant water,
And continuous treason, while you are their sea.

23. And people are races, as they are portrayed,
Among them is good, and you are their good.

24. Far from it! O Commander of the Faithful! He is
The Caliph of Allah and you are their in-law.

25. So they managed well when they gave advice
And secured reproach, so their advice was long.

26. I complain to you of young children and their mother
Who are never satisfied, and their father is like them.

27. They have eaten game but it did not satisfy them
And drank water but their drinking was long.

28. They tasted taste, oh their life!
And if they got to chew, it would be their wedding.

29. They do not know bread but by its name
And dates! Never, they do not have any.

30. They have not seen fruit hanging in its branches
Nor have they seen it falling towards them.

31. They have no known earner
In the farmland except their calf.

32. And their calf has spent the night devastating towns
And their dog is like tree stumps.

33. It is as if I am one of them and if I gain them
They would be my patrons and I their slave,

34. Striving for victory, never betraying them,
I pray for them, O Lord, make their matter sound.

35. And sometimes I say from what I see,
O Lord, distance them and their homes.

36. They take shelter at night when they are distressed
To the cooking pots of ashes, and those are their pots.

37. Around it they wander when they squat
And it is to them their father and mother.

38. The foreheads of the heads knocked together out of misery
And their hearing is muffled.

39. As if they are the progeny of barren land,
A place so if they are given arrows their arrowheads are blunt.

40. Rather, if you see them you would know they are
A people slight of sleep.

41. And like deadly snakes in their burrows
If they bite their poison would burn.

42. They have challenged fate, and it has tested them,
This is its habit, and their habit.

43. They do not live a plentiful life,
Nor do they die, and that is their shortage.

44. And we hoped, O son of Sahl, for gain
From you that lessens their poverty and misery.

45. For you are the life of their like
So be generous with gain, do not neglect them

46. And give them your bounty and make
All that, praise and thanks, with them.

47. While you have been deprived of their fortune
So do not be generous after them to creation.