1. The abode of the living, my friend, is not apparent
When will calamities and sorrows be repelled?

2. I whimpered with a sigh that uttered a groan
And the grieving may whimper with their sigh

3. My tears left nothing on my cheeks
Except traces that eyelids blot out

4. On the day of departure, ring-necked doves sang to me in a creek
With branches swaying under them

5. The cheeks of the doves gleam with the legs of the wild cows
And neither are the birds of the creek nor the wild cows

6. And when in the thickets I took a deep draught
Of oblivion, the resolutions were abandoned by the drunk

7. She has, from the Rqm (wine) of Rome, tattoos
And from the seeds of oceans she has kohl in her eyes

8. She did not wear fine clothes until
Crisis and injustice became indistinguishable

9. With her the jesters inclined towards certain camels
Too narrow were their eyes to behold her

10. She watered the travelers with a filled cistern
Though not pollinated, she had a fetus

11. A right-handed one, as if lightning in her
Were Indian swords, stirred by the spears

12. I wondered at one who wastes his effort on her
With neither fat nor flesh within him

13. And one who walks with conceit while incapacitated
To honor or disdain the youth

14. If he does not set out seeking glory
His movements are but stillness

15. And your honor, if you degrade but do not protect it
Then which singing slavegirl will protect it?

16. For every young man there is a match when he excels
And the pride of a king has no match

17. Descend into his courtyard nobly
Regarding the edict of fate, and I am the sympathizer

18. And do not expose yourself to her intoxication if
The routes and ships have brought her together

19. You ride the easy paths of his disposition
Downcast within its roadways

20. Its pebbles increase suppleness with touch
And it bites with its molars yet does not stiffen

21. He rode from his white abode freely
The fortresses and citadels bow to him

22. He leads deadly white swords to the thrust
Whose sheaths have no bellies

23. She took off the dress of finery and donned weapons
While the soft hair adorned her

24. With plaited braids upon her veil
Branches are woven into her tresses

25. The tongues of spears evade her
Concealed are the lithe and trusted blades

26. To the swift she-camels flowed a tribe
Moving camps and the An-Nawā’s fires

27. The crescent accompanied her run at dusk
Yearning over the pastures and bleating for her

28. And the lines of poetry took from him
Spear thrusts, while the eternal death was his shield

29. And he began restraining the palm of his generosity
The spears of manners and sound nature subdued him

30. He groans when the iron weapons hurt him
And no moaning relieves the pain

31. And he said to Iraq, “Take me and yearn for me”
For yearning is the mark of ardent love

32. He seeks the abode of Kaʿb wherever it was
While the land of Būtīn was beneath it

33. And I do not indulge in blaming Kaʿb
But talk of it has passions

34. She pastured the breast-spots from his wrath
To which the saltlands were illuminated

35. When a viewpoint shone brilliantly for her
Suspicion, gloomy and dark, followed its crime

36. Thus they are like the delirious toward her coolness
Shunning the water while crazed with it

37. You have a shrewd guardian over your conscience
Lying in wait within the breast

38. Who masked their eyes with its eyeliner
And hidden disease may look

39. He has, from the secret you were created with
A companion, neither betraying nor betraying

40. And the taster, when he sweetened
Your secret, was harsh yet gentle to it

41. To a lofty one, above the hillocks of a protector
Hills and dunes submit and yield to him

42. As if the feathers of standards in him
Were hawks of the desert, having no necks

43. May the cutting through of meadows, when distant,
And the hills’ racing clouds and darkness

44. Rain down swords upon your heads
With which separation and misfortune are routed

45. And if conviction resides with you, then think
Beware, certainty begins with assumption

46. For the walking of Kahīl to Dijāl
Allowed the lion passage in its sanctuary

47. His fangs are sufficient in their solitude
And a grip never enfeebled so as to seek aid

48. They circled around the lair to expose him
Not knowing what the lair concealed

49. And how can beholding him be endured if
Death peered through his terrifying eyes?

50. Before you are the plains and resting places
And behind you are the skulls and cairns

51. Dogs, howling in the strongholds
And in the wasteland, a roaming wolf

52. An heir, yet all of them the sons of dogs
The left unsupported by the right

53. Ready them like the striking of flints
The helper aided you in their prevention