1. When will I be saved from the arrows of misfortunes
That pour down and nothing satisfies them but fighting

2. And for how long will calamities keep assaulting my neck
And knock violently at my door, O unexpected disasters

3. I go and come back possessed by their arrogance
They delude me each day with falsehood

4. If the arrow of fate misses me by chance
It hits whoever it wants, the arrow of destiny

5. I am hostage to my concerns that never cease
While my concerns are exhausted in prolonged scope

6. My people deceive me and the hearts of my friends are tempted
And my intellect is stripped bare of its precious jewels

7. So if my morning does not come back to me with calamities
Oh woe to my mother! Woe to her from my disasters!

8. Fate has struck the tribes of Lakhm and Himmer
And led to the graves the glorious tribes

9. It destroyed Nizār before them
And lowered them from the lofty strongholds

10. It visited them morning and evening
But they did not outrun it with their quick steeds

11. Neither impenetrable white coats of mail
Nor polished blue swords could save them

12. They could not defeat its might though it was alone
With all they had mustered of weapons and missiles

13. Nor submarines that roam the horizons like
Hungry rapacious wolves on the prowl

14. Led defenseless into enemy land
To burrow through the earth in their dens

15. Warriors mount them, audacious and bold
Looking down on every formidable giant

16. When their bellies thirst for vengeance
Only bloodshed can quench their thirst

17. So many the earth burdened and confined
So many kings interred in the dust

18. So many generous souls who never refused
To fill the hand of one seeking aid

19. If a poor man visited them one day
He would leave wealthy with steeds and camels

20. I say to the mourner now that their protector
Lies wrapped in hyena skins in shrouds

21. On the path of storms, their deeds obscured
Their virtues buried in ignorance

22. If only, I wish, you had not said what you said
How many wounds your words have dealt my heart!

23. You grieved my heart though you knew it not
And showed the distance between me and the nightingales

24. You removed my dwellings from my eyes out of grief
And drew tears from my eyelids like pouring rain

25. A noble youth who warded off disgrace in battle
When the cauldron of war set souls aboil

26. His words left no room for others to speak
His actions left no room for others to act

27. His qualities were evident in his deeds
His features illuminated by his virtues

28. Ever the survivor of calamity’s grasp
Ever seeking the paths of nobility

29. In him origin and offshoot were equal
And his latter days drew from the water of the first

30. So when I spoke ill of him, it was as if
I had cursed the purest musk in the assemblies

31. If short nights proved barren for him
The pregnant bellies still bore him in multitudes

32. And if he came to rest in the vacant desert
How many hearts still shelter him among us!

33. You are of a people whose faces seem like
Swords but not yet polished and refined

34. When they boast they gain pride and bring low
With their hands the height of the towering hero

35. Only distant and noble at heart I saw them
Bestowing from open hands to outstretched palms

36. How your gentle words have relieved many a distress
That iron tools could not remedy

37. Your views have always proved right
Severing all ties with the enemy

38. And when you were taken from me today, alone
I returned with nothing left but to gnaw my fingers

39. For the blameless, how much enmity appeared between us
From wounding reproach that severed joints

40. You upheld security and plenty among us
Sending down abundant rains in torrents

41. Never did I fear that your days which dispelled
Our sorrows would not be lasting

42. Nor that I would call you in grief and agony
While you were too busy to answer my call

43. Had I fulfilled your right truly
I would have been, morning or night, your own murderer

44. It is as if, with your loss, I have been hit
Drinking deep from the cups of heartache

45. And it hurts me not to call upon the truest
Of my friends, if he is not my kin

46. Oh quench my thirst with tears from my eyes and sing to me
The laments of bereft, wailing women

47. And if my grief seems excessive to you today
Do not bring my hearing near the words of censurers

48. Say to him who carried him above his bier
Wanting him atop shoulders bare

49. You have perished! Do you know whom you carried to the grave
Lifeless, shrouded behind the brave soldiers?

50. What adversary and nuisance did you bury
And place in an uninhabited abode?

51. Neither have spears shown you mercy
For never were you one to procrastinate

52. Ever has your grave been generous
However the winds of dawn assailed it

53. If forms have submitted to decay before you
Your merit in the world remains transcendent

54. If lament for you departs from aching hearts
My sorrow for you will never fade or diminish