1. They approached with no sincere affection,
So restrain the tears that found their way.

2. They left, so you see in their traces
Only tears flowing copiously.

3. And I'm a captive of grief that can't endure their separation,
Weeping while the throng bustles blithely.

4. Imagination came unbidden before intention,
This imagination never came to us there before.

5. I know not what it is, other than its coming
Seduced the hearts with yearning.

6. O beauty of the two moons, why did you make me taste
What would not have been tasted were it not for your love?

7. If you were a wind, you'd be a gentle breeze,
Or if a time, you'd be the rise of dawn.

8. And I'm surprised by a heart that loves you after
You ignited estrangement in it.

9. If you feel secure from parting, I
Since that day of parting remain torn apart.

10. We feigned farewells to prolong
What I had no strength to bear.

11. And I saw her tear flow with pearls
That returned from roseate cheeks to carnelian.

12. Youth is gone and much of the past is beyond reach,
We can no longer keep pace with it after morn.

13. It was only life, lived then ended,
Though bitterly or as water poured away.

14. If I were given a choice one day in my solitude,
I would befriend only youth.

15. And I recalled in its agedness
A life for us in luxury and elegance.

16. And if their gazelles see me,
I'm the lofty polished youth.

17. My lips that kissed dangers
Split me with their spittle.

18. Who tastes its sweetness cares not
If it’s bliss he tastes or poison.

19. And they moan from weariness as though
They drank old wine from Babylon.

20. They rode steeds renting the darkness
With their brightness, piercing through.

21. They cross through empty deserts like opposites
Fleeing from the eye of the grim-faced night.

22. Until dawn appeared clearly like an eminent peak
Or lightning hastening to you with its gleam.

23. So to beholders it's like a pendant
Suspended by the cord of dawn's first light.

24. And I took pride in a band when they ascended
Who scorned eagles and hawks.

25. They possessed glory, so you see none after them
Save glory stolen from them.

26. When winds contended for the descending place,
It was for those refined of manner and breeding.

27. The guests ate their meat, and often
The captives drank their blood hotly.

28. They wrap the friend in affection
And rain hostility on the foe.

29. They give free rein to those they defended
And confine those hostile to the loyal friend.

30. And if they advanced freely to the lofty affair,
They left a band outstripped in advance.

31. A people, if they witnessed turmoil filled the turmoil
With blows, plunging into the fray headlong.

32. And if you glance at them, you see in them
Only the neighing of the steed at the thrust of spears.

33. And if you summon them one day to great deeds,
They come in the morning shining radiantly.

34. They left excuses to the coward and took off
Soaring high, free in flight.

35. And when the generous are present at glory’s drinking-places,
They were generous of soul and of breeding.

36. The new moon of each brightened like a crescent,
Gleaming white of forelocks, smooth.

37. I said to those presumptuous in their might
And overreaching to destruction:

38. Beware sailing in their raging sea
With billowing surges, unfathomably deep.

39. And I who since the injustice of fate
Remain a pillar for the prudent

40. Give comfort to those they defended from harm
And return the deprived to plenty.

41. And the sword rends a hidden side
And the stab ruptures a guarded side.

42. Today you see none in control
Save the two-edged iron blade.

43. It strips the helmets and coats of mail as though
It stained the linen with what it shed.

44. And bands who marched to the highest enterprises
Saw the reward of valor already ripened.

45. And they crumbled without hesitation
Like clouds when they meet a rent.

46. For glory there are partisans, and we never see you
As partisans of the glories forevermore.

47. No wealth stretches out to you, so how do I see you
Take the bliss that you grasp?

48. Leave glory to a people in whom is nothing
Save one who takes the sword as friend.

49. And if he steps forward to achieve a great feat,
No obstacle impedes his intent.

50. A martyr forever by his might,
The thrust of swords and a body pierced attest.

51. And skulls tumble amidst the sand grouse
Through the spaces between the armor links.

52. And if the valiant freeze from granting aid,
He has wealth disgraced and honor kept safe.

53. Who champions if an unjust ruler judges crookedly,
Exhausting his traits however rational?

54. He elevated the fool and lowered the prudent
As though he made discernment censured.

55. It doesn’t harm one whose protective pacts are kept
If some of his garment is torn.

56. So leave a man who seeks riches through disgrace—
Deprived of guidance and stripped of success.

57. He gathered the blossoms to the blossoms but didn’t hide
From his fate the tearing and separation.

58. Where are those lofty ones who rose with poise
And ascended to the celestial orbit?

59. Raising their heads to the sky
And striking to the depths their roots.

60. They’re gone, as though the dove suggested
And the hands of time tore them to shreds.

61. So they are in the graves’ pits as though they are
Hay made worthless by the winds.

62. So if you desire glory, make its envoys
Either swords or well-groomed spears.

63. And extend to giving the hand of a generous one
Who knows no stinting or miserliness.

64. And leave to those who sought the riches of this world
Its wreck and debris and plundered ruins.

65. And be one who forsook requesting from its people,
And arose from the intoxication of ambition sober.