1. O you whose gray hair breathed at dawn,
The night of sorrow answered when I complained,

2. "Do not think my black hair a blessing,
But sorrows of my heart have clad it like a cloak."

3. Unless the youth sheds tears or bends,
My back has aged though my heart is still young and bent.

4. I squint my eyelids against my blamers
And see my smile frown from my conscience.

5. My heart is soft to the friend with affection,
But if he senses betrayal, it hardens and splits.

6. I delay my gaze in wishes with passion for them
And hold back my longing from “maybe” and “perhaps.”

7. Why do I see the dreamlands a shelter?
And for these ribs they became like a broom.

8. Folded on the eggs of ostriches, so they swept
In them antelopes grazing the souls.

9. So they are the young women in the protected, hidden,
And they are the slave girls in the shelters, hidden.

10. They roam the horizons of the desert as Arabs
And return the fires of ribs perfumed.

11. The sash sways, breathed,
The breeze made its scent blow, so it waved.

12. She visited like a mirage covers itself
And gave like the gazelle startles.

13. She was cautious of the spying necks around her
So she came dragging her gown on the ground.

14. She despised the path of men and it tired her
A cocky lad who does not leave a soul alive.

15. The girl of the tribe claimed I flatter
Did you see my flattery to the glorious stooped?

16. She stirred and the devils of her ornament whispered to her
Until when the bright morning breathed

17. She blamed you at dawn, cunning and smooth
Like a seashell growing tranquility and more stubborn.

18. O daughter of my uncle, did you hear of Majid?
Who cries the utmost insult or feeds or clothes?

19. Do not think our pillar has eaten bitterness
But honor and arrogance.

20. You forgot about fate of dew that stirs
A lion when the lions are provoked and watchful.

21. The shoulders of his kingdom descended from a shoulder
That has ever gained from it an unlucky day.

22. So if a shoulder sags or withers,
It has bloomed from it a barren crippled thing.

23. There was a kingdom in your dunes and the dew
In a mountain doe so it isolated and measured.

24. Like the kings of an army, whenever they trod the ground,
And I think it has for it the ground and the sun.

25. And for its just peacemaker its contentment,
Generosity and kindness that make the mute speak.

26. His companions and his promises testified to him
Even the clouds when they intend and sneak.

27. I swear by the dew and its customs among us
So it traveled with the caravan and wed.

28. And it clothed the land with clear justice and accepted it,
They were stripped by the injustice of their governors, those clothes.

29. And it prepared the destinies of matters with its wisdom
And threw at it the goal of adversities so it shot its arrow.

30. And there came to it for the lofty house its pillars
Pillars for it of glory and honor unbending.

31. They said, “The clan of Tha’laba, you have exhausted generosity
That is attributed to its source,” so I said, “And what hope?”

32. Bring one for Hatim of Tayy that equals
These and I promise not to breathe.

33. Or ask me among the people other than my father
Hafs, so do you find about him a substitute?

34. Or carry some of what he carries
To return you from it, miserable and scraping.

35. People are similar but between them
In merit is what is between the beast and humankind.

36. Do you think everyone the dew covered
Not every house in Damascus is sacred?

37. O shame of the shining moon, and it has seen
Umar cloaked in kinds of majesty.

38. If it could, it would come borrowing for it
From its horizon, and if it found a place to borrow.

39. A prince who hopes for its light has failed
Except the ungrateful, for he is destitute.

40. It has sweetened the mouths of narrators with its praise
As if a perfumer saturating with scent.

41. And I have exceeded the rank of speakers in thanking it
And if I persist in its praise, I will be mute.

42. O unique one of the Arabs, if you pictured
An ancient charm, it would be from it the amulet.

43. I have called you for the strange wishes in
The darkness of the evil time relate a Jonah.

44. If the whale of events swallows my quest
Then extend to it your generosity a garment.

45. You are the quencher if a watering place is blocked
And the water if hope is muddled and despairing.

46. And the inability to hope other than you, but
I fear the plants of the meadow sneaking.

47. For you are the most fragrant knot stored
Why would I not protect from wasting the soul?