1. Turn away from those embroiled in saying and telling,
I do not listen to the words of the fickle.

2. And recall for me those whose love held firm,
Made sick by yearning, emaciated in body.

3. Patience alongside passion is lost, so what
Refuge is there for me in patience from a fair face?

4. With glances that stab like a brave warrior’s spear
And eyes that slay with the killing of arrows.

5. A fawn whom, were it not for the wounds of passion,
Wasting sickness would not have worn him down.

6. Whenever his evening came around, the passion
Flowed copiously with tears.

7. For in his breast burns the fire of a friend,
The passion of the lover for his beloved.

8. And when the zephyr breeze of morning blows on him
One sufferer seeks the comfort of another.

9. A liver that burns, tears flow,
So he is in the midst of conflagration and floods.

10. If only you could see him when his loved ones depart,
Head bowed, stumbling on the ground.

11. Ask not about what has passed and how,
Asker of tears down the cheeks they course.

12. What day was it when his Usayy left
And the caller called for their departure?

13. And here am I after them complaining of sorrow
To the remnants of dwellings and deserted encampments,

14. By the outline of the abode from their ruins
Wasting in body, sickly and frail.

15. They denied intimacy when they turned away
And I gained tribulation from one who denies kindness.

16. Would that I knew, for how long shall I complain
To one cold of temper for my fervid passion?

17. I see no calamity like love, no
Illness for the young man like death from love’s arrows,

18. By my father, whom the glances of the doe took,
A terrible, pernicious blow!

19. And my remedy is the nearness of her who made me sick
With the illness of eyes and slender waist.

20. Do you not know that the glances of the doe
Were created then to bewitch minds?

21. O dwellings of loved ones who came
One day to visit you and are now departed!

22. The garden of life in them was verdant
Before the time of my return warned of decay.

23. With wine whose goblets shone,
Dawning like the sun in a cloak of silk.

24. And tender boughs in their branches
Were given knowledge of the music of rustling.

25. Blessed be play and days of youth
And wine and cups of drunkenness!

26. And drinking companions, brought together for a while
In our embrace, welcomed favorably!

27. After them, their return reproached me
For a purpose unattainable.

28. Since they went, brief in their term,
My weeping and wailing have grown long.

29. The critic in his ignorance knows not what ails me
And supposes his knowledge benefits from the ignorance of fools.

30. He who counts favor as meddling
Attains no praise in praising me.

31. And I see myself, though my pedigree is noble
Of far-reaching renown and long lineage,

32. Whenever I string verses into a poem,
I string kindness into well-turned speech.

33. And despite their lightness in meter
They trample the envious with weighty words.

34. Your father lavished on me every day
A share from a streaming pool.

35. Life shows me only ease
In the bounty of the son of the beautiful one.

36. The star looks to his loftiness
With the gaze of one enchanted by a languid eye.

37. He climbs the degrees of highness
Until you see the envious man descending.

38. His enviers fall short of his distinction
And turn away with outstretched necks.

39. Generosity was attributed to his open-handedness
As sorcery is attributed to kohl on the eyelid.

40. And he quenched those he favored from his grandfather
As heavy rain quenches the thirsty.

41. His gentleness almost mixed him
With the soft night breeze of Nejd.

42. O you who takes from his forefathers
The excellent traditions of fine conduct!

43. Kind deeds have I brought for people
That even the boldest heroes have failed to achieve.

44. These people of our time―I have not seen
For you amongst them a single peer.

45. A nobility brighter than the rising sun,
It needs no evidence to prove its identity!

46. For if we jostled you we would jostle a blade
That splits resolve like a piercing spearhead.

47. I ask Allah for you a power
That was among the highest of my hopes.

48. Ever blessed, a source of bounty,
Sweetly flowing for the oppressed.

49. For your blessings have such influence on me
As rainfall on the lush meadow.

50. If I thanked fate I would not empower me
To fulfill even a little of the immense debt.

51. Indeed you are downpours amidst bounty,
And when heroes despair, shelter from adversity.

52. Nobles from the noble people of Jubayr
Whose nobles are known to be of this tribe.

53. They clothed me with pride in praising them
And covered me in the loose folds of trailing hems,

54. And showed me glory clearly in their life of ease,
While misery is easier than the life of disgrace.

55. They adorned my poetry with their glorious feats
In the meters Fa‘īl and Fa‘ūl.

56. Verily they are merit, valor and happiness,
Decoration of the sword's hilt for the polished blade.

57. And their roots have been purified since they grew
With branches purely virtuous and roots sound.

58. What they spent in God’s cause
For orphans and wayfarers!

59. They spent their wealth and invested
Fair rewards in enduring glory

60. Which defies time, adorns nobility,
And perpetuates fame for generations to come.

61. O stars shining on our horizon
May God never make you set!

62. You are the treasure I have stored away
For when disasters strike.

63. In you culminates a hope for me
That almost made me covet the unattainable.

64. So many, so many praises have I
That raised my name from oblivion through you.

65. So when shall I come seeking your grace?
To seek it is to seek a shady shelter!

66. Never have I ceased to enjoy wealth with you
And ample bounty, gifts and riches.