1. In you my excuse excuses me
And my blamers have fallen short

2. Your specter never bid me farewell
When it set out, but took me captive

3. How many fiery agonies burned my ribs
And kindled my bones aflame!

4. And a searing, burning regret
In my liver when they scraped away

5. And how many dawns bursting forth
From his mouth when he journeyed

6. And his dark complexion - whenever
It shook, a dark one shook

7. He tucked lightning into his wrap
And ignited a shining moon

8. Woe to me from a dark one
I became intoxicated by him

9. I hoped he would console me
From his estrangement but he avoided me

10. I protected him - may he protect me
I drew near to him - he recoiled

11. O you branch we pick from
Bearing the fruits

12. O you Bedouin who boasts
Of going to Ubayd bin Mirra

13. Curb my bridle and walk gently
How good that you do not betray

14. The high-minded Bedouins
Have good lineages and ancestry

15. And they inhabit the highest
Places of elevation and height

16. They see the lowering of the bridle
Among the people as disdained

17. And that is a sin to them
Due to their excellence, never forgiven

18. Their forefathers refused
Oppression, so they rebelled against men

19. How many armies they gathered
To defend from the bridle encampment

20. And how much truth they protected
And did not retreat back

21. And how many white swords
They returned their likeness red

22. And dark ones they stabbed
Into the flanks of foes, breaking

23. They call out in war - hurling
Spears soaked in blood

24. Their news is summarized
In the legendary poems

25. They pushed his kingdom
From Chosroes and wanted Caesar

26. O neighing one, if you come at dawn
To that red dune

27. And your eyes see the basins
Of sanctuary and heavy incense

28. And ar-Raqmat, al-Qaisum and al
'Irār, green and flowering

29. Then call out in Wadi al-Qura
“Is there, O Arab, any village

30. You will see among lions
A group below the dune?”

31. Every man has his knife
Bared to hamstring

32. And for the camels a clamor -
Fearful of being slaughtered

33. And sheep wandering in fright
Fearful of being marked

34. They meet bleating, the snorting of stallions
And blood pouring, squirting

35. And the fire blazes
Furious to give light

36. So say to them “We do not ask,
O Princes of Quray’

37. The best villages that you depart
The best of you that abandons”

38. His glances confuse
Your blinks when they settle

39. His temples’ edges
Prevent your knives being drawn

40. And his mouth prevents
Your mouths from opening

41. Who suffers anguish after
His eyelids ignore the good vision?

42. Attaching a heart - calling out - broken
To the ground, hoping to meet a trace

43. Led by passion as female onagers
Are led to pasture

44. O Sa‘d, refrain from a passion
In which you ventured into danger

45. And repel with the wind of seriousness
From the chest of play, the denounced

46. And draw a subtle, refined ode
Adorned and dotted

47. Fresher than the breeze, the edges
Of sights charming with magic

48. More joyous than the sprout of meadows
When grief is illuminated

49. More fragrant than musk when
It exhales its scent and perfume

50. Fairer than a promise of union
From a lover turned estranged

51. So bestow it upon the judge – the jurist
Of the religion – with it as ink

52. Upon the one whose era
Has become proud of him

53. How many scholars in his convention
Whose mouths he fed pebbles

54. And he made a poet know
That he didn’t know poetry

55. He was told “Be silent, indeed
Ostriches are in the villages”

56. And a composer he abandoned
Unable to show excellence

57. Can a sparrow be compared
To a screaming hawk?

58. And musk is not made
Into fragrant musk

59. And the sly fox cannot
Frighten the mighty lion

60. Blessed is not the age that
Belittles the arrogant

61. And makes the shining star
Bow down beneath the earth

62. It makes us hear the cackling
Of what has no mill that is seen

63. O poets of the age, do not grieve
For an age that has gone murky

64. You are above the station
That is scorned

65. Mother the side of the judge
The ruler, and take on a burden

66. Indeed the son of Shukr deserves
That his effort be thanked

67. In his face is good tidings – with it
Joy appears overjoyed

68. He shows humility when
Others show arrogance

69. His mind is fire and he contains it
Overflowing oceans

70. If there were no free nobility
In his chest concealed

71. The brilliance would have burned
When it casts sparks to it

72. A sea of dew, a river of bounty
Rain of generosity, a lion of valor

73. More steadfast than Rida and Tahal
And Jerusalem and Hirra

74. So all praise other than his praise
Is a fabricated tale

75. And by the measures upon
Every enemy support

76. His chest’s sea hurls
From words within pearls

77. The crown was clothed with him
With the finest jewel crown

78. By it he became crowned
Sealed and betrothed

79. And he is the one who appointed
Every minister a burden

80. And his promise of swift
Fulfillment comes fruitful

81. Upon him the just king
Lavishes praise, smiling

82. In his advice to him - sincere
And true in his love, not doubtful

83. Servant of God! O Abu
Muhammad, you blocked treachery

84. O son of ‘Ali, from Abū
Bakr we saw ‘Umar

85. With his opinion, never
Ceasing supported and victorious

86. They do not stop being victorious when
An eyeglance maintains its gaze