1. The flatterers' union is all but illusion
A slave to them, an employee and a subservient

2. If he's not given a tight embrace
Then with them every singer is poor

3. Be wary, for evil lurks dormant
The strike of a match yet small, may ignite a fire

4. She jested with me yesterday then rebuked me
Some of the jester's words can be harsh

5. The place I knew well is empty of the one I love
So for me there is only weeping and sighing

6. The whims of all are thwarted in Bediyah
An owl at the curtain's edge screeches

7. From a star comes a greeting, laughing
After longing's echo, it hums a melody

8. It adorns the meadow's branches and stems
Approaching to array them and illuminate

9. Peoples of locusts have readied their sticks
After breaking them, the locusts have no homes

10. How can the days' kindness be hoped for in them
When a thing has a beginning and an end

11. So excellent were the years gone by
And a life accompanied by likeminded youth

12. Too long the litigation, reproach and pretense
Almost making the hearts fly away

13. The splendor of the two abodes has called me
While between us spirits roam to change the rhythm

14. So I respond, O Lord of Kings, with greetings
That delight in the small hours and shine

15. And how many verses about you I have
With wandering verses that keep changing

16. You destined and no advisor rose above you
While fortune meets you wherever you point

17. And openings keep expecting your gifts
While others bring you good news

18. You seize town after town
And plunder the enemies' surging tides

19. The pillars of faith make its distortions stand straight
And ripen the poultice while still soft

20. I cast it to the vicissitudes of time, so it sailed
Daring to face the vicissitudes, intrepid

21. When prosperity comes, it's grateful
When adversity strikes, it's patient

22. Lofty wishes, a radiant face its asset
A morning that changes the stars' saddles

23. The rides' abdomen or the mounts' back are strongholds
Their vertebrae are graves for those who dare

24. You tread the paths of torrents, people of warnings
While their sweet sleep is undisturbed

25. They were unaware of the horses until
The horses' hooves clad them in showers

26. You seized them by the mountain edges
No warner came to them before the charge

27. O progeny of Maksah, no sleep until
The horses' hooves trample you, hard as rocks

28. They warned each other, in scabbards were swords
That attend when prodded, always present

29. And each one primed in their souls, eager
With the shield of battle their ally

30. The lethal stab that spills his guts
Its stuffing gushing out and disappearing

31. When it meets the insides of the armored one
It churns a gulf, tearing up his dress

32. Scimitars glinting as if
They sink into armor piercing

33. A steadfast knight charges amidst death's confusion
His spear straight, never wavering

34. Your father expelled Qais's lions from Iraq
No camel traversed between its two valleys

35. Their camel litters soared up like ships
Sailing the desert's swelling dunes

36. When asked to stop, their travel opposed
Fearing the pulling of the howdah straps

37. Wandering, reined by the litter's wood
Guided by white camels traveling at night

38. Not trusting the open desert until scaling
The high-backed camels plod on slowly

39. As if the Euphrates' surging waves
Were scrolls the currents made unfurl

40. It stood over the blind one dividing its affair
Knowing that staying was impossible

41. It saw garments between Al-Nusaib and Badan
Necks offered to it, prone and exposed

42. Like its name, dogs on the capital's army
Dogs around its homes howling

43. And priests on the mounts acting cowardly
Circling with the white wherever it goes

44. And a dog in the Samawa desert howling
Guarding its vulnerability, spears his wall

45. And they are in the wildlife haven like locusts feet
Descending from the heat then flying off

46. Sons nursed by the desert, it fed them
With a tear, as if it was their wall

47. And I swear if the sinner sought his pardon
An anguished soul would be relieved and a prisoner freed

48. The Buwayhids are life's towering edifices
Where one escapes or the sought refuge for the fugitive

49. They are impetuous with swords drawn
Captivating with eloquent tongues

50. Kings who loved the land's fertility and never ceased
Being just rulers and leaders of the people

51. And were it not for them, no slave would know his Lord
Nor would the Crown of Mustafa have a throne

52. Though Ibn Hamdan has wronged you
Forgiveness and grace from you he merits

53. And he continues wearing himself out seeking your approval
Until gray hair appeared on his temples