1. The dawn appears black after nightfall
Or was your night endless?

2. As if the stars of night after their departure
Linger in their ruins, wandering to and fro

3. Of an abode whose beauty has departed when they left
The eyes of the unwell pass by it and wink

4. I knew it as the capital of passion, the passion's passion
And a people, who if the rain failed to help would help

5. And a rough heart of dry rock
Yet if it was of softness it would twist and knot

6. Each of us sees the faults as some of its beauty
And the intent is given the halter and restrained

7. My ribs wish for lightnings that
I have endured while the deluded endures

8. Lo, whoever has a lightning in the bosom of night
As if the darkness in its burden sways

9. When I say the dawn appears to me through it
Its light is erased by wings of the darker night

10. It made hostage the dawn as if
Over the night swords glide and are sheathed

11. To what extent do I want determination confused fetching while
I disappoint the night and the night is well-equipped

12. I chide the turns of fate for my resolutions
With things the intimidated cannot accomplish

13. This despair almost grew accustomed to an ambition
Whose chest is resolute in the face of worries and has a creek

14. I aspire to a matter while the fates are beyond it
And anticipate a day that tomorrow does not bring

15. My like is not enough for a flashing white blade
That I wear like what I wear

16. Until the east shines and its throat is pierced
With a blow, death takes its stand and sits

17. And the fire of a flashing blaze in the sky
Like the fire of villages in the land of Taghlib ignited

18. For those lost at night it is guidance and for the guest a meal
And for the fearful refugee safety and a prepared bed

19. How can I fear misfortunes while beyond them
Are pleasure gardens' bases, with hills and bulwarks

20. When the sword of Saif al-Dawla is my supporter
I withstand the turns of fate as they dwindle and distance

21. I sent you to me, son of the outstanding, directing
Upon you flasks from your saddlebag and supplies

22. Your gaze cuts through the darkness guiding me
And your back for me in it is the smoothed mattress

23. And the day you see in its darkness the meteors
And the sun is missed from where it blazed

24. Its night proceeded in fear of misfortune from its day
So horses drove it back with spears that repel

25. And its people feared the flooding of its basin
Almost making the barefoot birds flood it

26. When you do not execute the spears' behest
Then no rule but the sharpened swords