1. Return, O Master, return
For if a servant does wrong, he'll repent

2. He obeyed you while still a youth
So how will you see him when youth is shed?

3. Once guided while still young
Straying is feared when gray hairs come

4. Far from good advice in seclusion
Devious after being straight and upright

5. Say to the tribe: ready the mounts
And raise the canopies and tents

6. And lead the horses to waterless vales
Whose zeal cannot be contained

7. Take greetings from us and recite them
Though you may hear no reply

8. To a glorious king too noble
To be flattered though hymns gratify

9. When he shunned heights to veil
His foes, he lifted the veil

10. And say to those who were pleased a while
But foes provoked them against us

11. Our habit drew us from your lands
And so our visiting grew rare

12. So no lands we traverse emitting lightning
Nor earth we smell emitting dust

13. Nor did we fear when avoiding you
That estrangement would be our punishment

14. Forgive our sins, for among you
And in your presence - mercy for the sinful

15. Reproach not the loyal for their missteps
For the servant errs even when right

16. Our distance makes enemies rejoice
Though it increases our longing and pain

17. We saw with our own eyes - still they feasted
No triumph or honor they gained by our absence

18. For when we secured them from us
They became like wolves guarding lambs

19. O King of Kings, hear my words
That you be too awed to rebuke

20. Awe silences me a while
But your loyalty reassures me to speak

21. Were it not for your just rule being so forbearing
I would rebuke and reproach you

22. I served you when foes drew near
And neighbors abandoned our aid

23. And I struggled in ways you sanctioned
Those grueling days against enemies

24. I fear death before and behind
Waiting for its arrival or departure

25. Each day I race from your foe
My patience and composure undone

26. How often traitors tried to grab me
But I evaded them pulling away

27.
Do not let your mildness miss the right course

28. When one strayed who knew the right path
And say to those who blame me: wait

29. For you have attained what you sought
Wrath after wrath and estrangement

30. Avoidance after avoidance and shunning
You saw in each garden we entered

31. Each wonder you forgave
Why then not reconcile me with a people

32. Who plotted against your firm rule?
They strayed after being set right

33. And filled their pouches with evil
Greetings O Buwayhid kings

34. Your glory rules all necks
And you gained rule not by inheritance

35. But by the sword's force and domination
When a dog strayed with the sword

36. And dragged dogs to its misguidance
It thought you oblivious, distracted

37. As was imagined by the heedless of old
Seeing you lenient, it thought well

38. And met leniency touching your love
You approached it in the stroke of death

39. Striking or stabbing fatally
Faces once radiant, now wrapped in murk

40. Meeting, once gentle, now hard and cruel
It saw them in the marshes unkempt

41. Like a mangy dog with madness
Against them stood every noble knight

42. Too prideful to show fear
So it turned against the rabble it had

43. Led so long, and led to drink
You'd think them lions as they crawled

44. But once close, mere jackals they seemed
It made them your comrades, and so

45. There they were, in its final company
Morn saw only smiled faces

46. Eve only tear-stained faces
Strung from the stump at night

47. Too awed to even beg
Its pale corpse hung until

48. The circling birds thought it carrion
The birds were too revolted by its rot

49. Though it would've made rich carrion
Your vengeance left nothing of it

50. Once you made it food or drink
Blood, O Buwayhids' crown

51. Fate ordained you be struck
None ruled people but you, O Master

52. None but your gifts did people seek
Misfortunes all missed their mark

53. To wound you on your lofty peak
Your life was blessed, and then grew long