1. Grant us a brief respite in the morn, for long have you been estranged.
We bid farewell to weariness, for we know of no lover like the fickle one.

2. Obey us in this, though you're wont to obey the fickle in love.
Promise us, though the promise of procrastinators is often hollow.

3. We passed by the abodes, changed to ruins in Jeddah, in gloom.
Our eyes denied recognizing them, save their vestiges and hills.

4. In the vale of Basham, had we tread its soil, our hearts would have healed.
Beauty gathered in his face, deeming all shame as gain.

5. Say to the brooding soul: Patience is fair, but the fickle is not.
We knew not that sleep is rest; elsewise we'd have found our way to it.

6. Age came to my dark-tressed darling, and she cried: "Ill lodged is the lodger!"
And saw a streak as if a bared sword of my gray hair.

7. His color startled her, and were it not for the affliction of singers,
she'd have deemed him fearsome.

8. She saw in him what misfortunes deny: unfading East.
Blame him not, for gray hair shows the youth was meant to endure.

9. The hue of youth is fleeting; how could it last if time went on?
If I could choose, and black my gown, I'd never want white instead.

10. The blade of youth unburnished is far dearer than the burnished one.
We sought, but ‘gainst gray hairs no refuge could shield us.

11. The pride of kings, faith and state conferred on me a heavy boon.
I gained from it more than wishing, when before it we had no envoys.

12. So whenever I stood before him, he prolonged my sitting
While all around gazed on the place where nobles sat in throngs

13. Each day had a generous deed, though time was fickle and unwise
Gifts came, though the zealous sent no herald for them

14. Dawns shone as you looked to the Pleiades, dusks cleaved as you donned night's gown
A passion for giving, generous if he gave treasure, or answered the needy

15. He pardoned the niggard's excuse; how oft have we offered apology for the blamer's stinginess!
Ask him, if you know not the forbidden days in which the ignorant taught.

16. After the Son of Wāṣil[1] ruled, after he was an august king
He secluded him in a nook, where he made the waves his cave and rest

17. On a ship that yesterday had no sail save shreds and steeds
Nothing but howdahs routed, and coats of mail, deadly lances and blades

18. Seeking haven in the sea's swell, neither wishing a stay nor departing
He shunned death in war, mighty, so slunk away and died disgraced

19. As for the mountains he sought refuge on, you made every gentle hill a plain
No shame or disgrace in being wise when destruction looms ahead

20. Those hills refused long, but when you wearied them they yielded
A new moon wished them humbled, but it waned and sparked no flame

21. It visited in their weakness like beasts of the wold in the night, timid and vile
And saw itself cowering from open war, so it sheathed its claw in stealth

22. You awaited its rising as though expecting it, while it hoped for negligence
Amongst men whose lances, when their blades grew dull, slaked themselves in blood

23. Who were weaned on stabbing steeds and striking down young and old
So it dwelt after you favored it with capture, else it would have been slain

24. Wearing the rags of life, though the necklace of life had been severed
O greatest of earth's nobles, carpenter and tent-pitcher

25. Dwelling and companion and tribe
By whom all hardship was rendered easy, and glory made tame

26. Thanks to God that you facilitated the ancient abode's attainment
Without you, the pilgrims could not have descended upon the sacred mosque

27. Nor hamstrung camels at Mina, wary, nor dragged banners at the station
You shared with them, residing in your homeland, that chanting and praising

28. The blessed Feast of the Sacrifice is come, quickly carrying your desires
So welcome it, soft and gentle, wandering amidst sweetmeats

29. Each day the Sauds meet you without reserve, morning and eve
And God ordained you should remain in dear glory, desiring you endure

30. Then gave you, in glory and nobility, that hope and expectation
If they beget and flourish, ‘tis by your flourishing when you begot origins

31. And as we knew the lions of the wilds, striding with our youths
[1] The last Abbasid caliph, dethroned by the Mongols.