1. Bāqān, O Bāqān, you suffered no harm
When the horses brushed against you.

2. Don’t you see how the fine stallion
Left you, the old nag without verve?

3. He trotted off towards Syria, hastening
On dancing hooves that tap the earth.

4. Did not his neighing beside you enfold
Grass and water that he could slurp down,

5. Then snuggle next to your warmth to graze
While beasts crowded around you?

6. An old crony complained bitterly
About some doddering wretch’s worthlessness.

7. An ancient shaykh tells tales
Of Shaykh Sāsān, who cannot walk.

8. A herdbeast, lice egg-laying bitch,
A worn-out hack chewing on twigs.

9. Old age makes the wretch despised
Though his shooting was famed unerring.

10. Bāqān once drew a mighty bow;
His arrows flew unerring.

11. By night he waits to snatch the biers
When mourners leave the sepulchered.

12. He drags them off on his staff
To a gut with gashes deep as furrows.

13. With them he roams the wilderness,
Seeking a livelihood by which to live.

14. My friend said, when he saw him come,
A young foal prancing behind:

15. It flowed along like a torrent
Coursing wildly into a wadi.

16. He barred with his fangs the swift bite
Of a viper about to strike.

17. Beware old Sarrūj’s son, I say,
When rage seizes the whelp!

18. Though the turns of fate almost finished you off,
His shots fly unerring.

19. Ibn Zayd’s son is a ram, Sāsān’s
Whelp a mangy cur when his sire’s gone.

20. As for you, O Shaykh, how much you suffer
Destiny’s wiles, which never cease!

21. You’ve left ninety generations behind
Whose tale wrinkles recorded.

22. And the dynasts have nested atop dynasts
While you drink the lethal draft.

23. How long will you torment the wilderness,
O eagle of Luqmān? How long will you live?