1. A protector from his people departed, so their pastures
Became desolate and their watering places empty.

2. But time itself has become fleeting -
It galloped away while misfortunes pressed on it.

3. I thought he would remain forever - his people
Would never erase what his scribe had inscribed.

4. He of pure counsel departed from them and became their companion
At night when only a few small stars shine.

5. He settled in the wilderness of oblivion, a forlorn place
Where he did not belong when we made war against him.

6. It was empty for the sons of the Bishr clan of Bakr ibn Wa'il -
The courses of pebbles from the gorge flowed on its side.

7. Their cavalrymen warded the enemies away from them
And a rushing squadron whose steeds are green.

8. We are a brother for whom none can match among men
When the days grew long and his eyebrows turned white.

9. We are steadfast among our people's battle sites
When the slender, fine-scripted letter roused its war.

10. We bear the burden of the enemy when he attacks
Riding a ship whose planks are not joined smoothly.

11. Another boiled with enmity - his chest
Thrashed about wildly but his claws did not reach me.

12. If you have opened the Kulaibites with victory
Then their habits in the barren land destroyed them.

13. A hazy day remained between Ukab and Rahit
Whose stars do not hide.

14. I saw you burdening yourself beyond your capacity
Like something past, its seeker cannot reach.

15. If youthfulness has gone, still I may excuse
My drinking the sweet, delicious beverage.

16. On a night of intimacy that charmed its people,
I snatched away a lovely gazelle in the dark.

17. So it was veiled from me, though its traces
And playground remained visible.

18. We remained like the guest of a jinn in the night
Who returns to heal his sick heart.

19. Oh me! My inattention that I did not guard against,
Oh heart! Its ways destroyed you.

20. His generosity invited me to the best of kings
And I am one who praises and eulogizes him.

21. I cling to the means of a man - if it falls
It falls on a generous one whose gifts do not fail.

22. To a doer - if the Nile betrayed him, its flooding
And foam would crawl from the Nile.

23. If I devote myself to Al-Walid, his origins
Lead back to the best branches that spread.

24. The women of Bani Ka'b, 'Abs and others bore him -
Blessed for my life are those who pulled him in the cradle.

25. Of lofty purpose, no ill-omened one can carry it
Nor one with a grim face whose eyebrows are knit.

26. His cauldrons bubble with the flesh of buffaloes
When the abode does not provide two armfuls of firewood.

27. Their brows shine at dawn when the darkest
Of frowning ones crease their eyebrows.

28. No horsemen of a leader before him reached
Where his raiders and battles arrived.

29. The mountains of Rome became dust from his raiding -
What his attacks and onslaughts ignited.

30. From invading until every sand dune merged
And lengthened from the quantity of spears.

31. He extends his reach to the people until
The ropes of strength were cut and its twisted strands unraveled.

32. A young man whom no warriors could defeat
Nor singers compete with Qais in his prime.