1. The memory of them stirred you, and fantasies,
Though a hand has been removed from them and from fetters,

2. They did not depart except while their hearts
Were suns for the visitors of love and keys,

3. As if the tribe of the living, when they bore
Altogether the forenoon, were wings of night advancing,

4. Or the rock of the signs of terrified Thahlan, vanishing,
Or the howdah, howdah of the close-packed forest.

5. So it rained upon the dwellings of Al-'Amiriyya,
And the dwellings of Al-'Amiriyya returned dry,

6. Those traces were not erased by any eraser,
Nor were those graceful necks caressed by any intimate friend.

7. Long indeed I spent the battle of youth among them,
While the gazelles, my boon companions, kept me company,

8. In white robes whose beauty adorned over any garment,
So they made beautiful for us what garments do not beautify.

9. They revealed youth to him whose only care was not youth,
That every despairing man might covet it.

10. And they spoke gently with a conversation as though it were
A breeze from gardens at the dead of night drowsing.

11. When we met, while the censor pried on love,
Outwitting him by our glances and evading him by stealth,

12. They showed faces whose beauty was as though
They were sculpture done by the smoothing hands of Time.

13. In perfection they have no match,
In chastity no guard to watch over them.

14. I swear by Him whom the pilgrims circumambulate His House,
And whom the Corner of Yemen touches,

15. While the water skins anticipate him who comes to draw water
Morning and evening, and they are shirts concealing the stomach.

16. Chance clothed them in silk mantles over effacement,
So they are aloof; they have no conversation.

17. And he who assembles a multitude while the riding beast is refractory
Fools him with the rinsing of the mouth and fraud.

18. They did not flee before the torrents at Minà
From blood which has a seeker and a concealer.

19. Indeed women were born of me escorting
Raiding, and wars as entertainment for them.

20. They have tried me when the din of war grew loud
Wearing no armour save their shifts.

21. With a blow, as the edges of the swords chose,
And a stab, as the firm-handed lancer desired.

22. Every one who has a purse turned from me
And the shining one winked at me from afar.

23. So when I attacked none was found to be my rival,
And when I surpassed none was left as my competitor.

24. I made them submissive, arrogant, lofty ladies,
Yet not every trainer can control spirited horses.

25. Say to him who aspires to glory but beneath him
Are desolate wastes which the noble ladies cannot traverse−

26. 'You fall short of fair deeds and others stand,
You rise to foul deeds and others remain seated.'

27. And you throw at him whom your roads one day cannot contain
The attainment of spoils freely gained without your being a planter.

28. Indeed I in the affair of the people stand up to act
While you from the affair of standing up to act play truant.

29. My regard rising to every lofty peak,
How then can ogling eyes make me haughty?

30. You wish to rise up while you are the lowliest
And to shine among us while you are extinct coals.

31. By my life you have neighed at my manliness in ignorance of it
So curses on neighing! What has the neighing gained for the neighers?

32. How can the stammerers criticize every eloquent man
And consort with every man whose power of speech is impaired?

33. None among you today is a follower of my power,
Nor among you today a suppressor of my youthfulness.

34. If you have soured the choice part of our life for us,
Snouts have been rubbed in the dust and the wry-mouths!

35. If Time draws near you a portion of its luck,
You are in Time naught but the unlucky ones.

36. Who, had it not been for me, would have given shelter to your dignity
While you are to the misfortunes of war a prey?

37. The swords are not sword of India were it not for their blades,
And the horses on the day of raid are naught but the horsemen.

38. Even if your own self does not guard you, ready to defend,
There is none to guard your side as a protector.

39. And as for all those whom you see
If they are angry, they are naught but the fickle-minded.