1. A man saw me in al-Kura as if
I had made a helmet of gold for my head,

2. Wearing a skullcap reserved for the elegant,
Like Khorramuz or an Uli king.

3. So I said, expressing myself, “My gold is lost
And that is glory for me in my poem.”

4. I forbade you to parade the daughter of gossip
Who sways when she walks and is unsteady.

5. As if the gardens of her two jaws were a sunrise
Watering the plants of her prominent upper arms.

6. As if she had a Pleiades in her head,
The house of her mouth the house of her head.

7. And a neck like lightning, the least bit inclined
Over the thorns of broom plants or bracken.

8. She came down like the slipping of a pearl—
Its passageways narrowed, exhausted in the pass.

9. I was satisfied with her, though reluctantly, knowing
My mares were collecting their fodder.

10. Who can race horses for his brother
That would trample the turf and race-course?

11. One day I stood while some resolution
Told the ships’ convoy to cast off.

12. I made you my guard but you betrayed my intentions
While you plotted as I slept in my watch.

13. The chairs of the hilly ground are crazed men
Who have clung to authority and chairs.