1. Wisdom has unveiled my ignorance and dispelled my confusion,
Neither humble nor devout am I now,

2. And people disdained me but those of propriety,
As birds take heed of the falling acorns.

3. My detractors glanced at me askance, their eyes betraying their rancor,
Though to my face they feigned meekness and restraint.

4. Foolishness had made them rave mindlessly when defending their words,
They flew not high nor struck true.

5. They would vilify me to their women, yet if they saw me themselves,
Humbly their tongues would still and their heads bow.

6. Among the men no hearts had they, merely foolish driveling louts,
Who neither harmed nor helped aught.

7. If I assail a people with blame, the stalwarts among them grow frail
Or stumble along abjectly lame.

8. I see what the Maliki School has wrought,
When the throngs of Hijaz fell apart and cracked.

9. Your stolen glance from behind the veil is like
Pebbles cast without sling or staff.

10. About them the perfume circulates, above a pair
Of cheeks, and eyes no lewdness has taint.

11. To them belong lips drinking sweetly the proffered kiss,
As the thirsty drink of their like, eagerly quaff.

12. The wife of rabid Ashmat,
In whose head were madness and raving unremitting.

13. Her cheeks unfettered by veils,
As if shackled to her temples were scraping platters.

14. Say, O bearer of momentous missives, does your parchment convey,
By its breadth and length of scripture, requite?

15. She resembles an ostrich, but for her hollowed socket,
Bare of lashes should you strip the lid back.

16. She escapes the coupling of wild mountain asses, when in heat
Their hooves fall short as the paths rise steep.

17. As if she were a piebald racing mare, behind her follow
Two legs whose heels in each stride land with a clap.

18. Or a gazelle, keeping pace with her in pursuit
Is a nimble hyrax, succeeding its mate with rapid foot.

19. Close they vie as their race intensifies,
With but waste-land between them as boundary and limit.

20. A female hare, tiring, is startled by the call
Of another male further behind, giving chase, acute.

21. Twenty five were counted, then she accepted the buck
As though they had reached the upper ridges again.

22. By the Lord of the Christians on their feast day,
And the Muslims when convened by the crowds without,

23. By the Lord of each monk sequestered in his abbey
Who passes evenings unconcerned by worldly wares,

24. By the mendicants in their faded woolen robes,
In them from distant wanderings, the signs of age show clear,

25. Their mounts' saddle-bags swelling, the necessities of the riders abound,
Be they urgent affairs or journeys far and near.

26. I praised the Quraysh and implored them for aid,
When my companions slept and slumber snatched them away.

27. When some folks maligned me, the tribe came to my defense,
Whose lofty station with God is secure and will not decay.

28. In a Garden of spirits belonging to The Divine,
No alarm disturbs the birds along its boughs as they sway.

29. When storms whipped the meadows, they shared the milk
Of the nursing mothers, neglecting nor greed displaying.

30. They fed in time of hardship, while pretentious pedants
Scoffed in their distant enclaves, deceitful and feigning.

31. Summoned I was by Bishr to a feast,
Well-known is his charity, the folk his custom obey.

32. O Bishr, were I not so esteemed among you,
The overbearing lout would confront me to bray.

33. You are the elite of Quraysh, your lineage is purest,
The lords of Mecca, of noble descent today.

34. God granted you that which you most deserved,
When kings of your calibre for themselves fortune fray.

35. Those they drive out do not thrive,
Nor can the mightiest seize what they turn away.

36. So today I exert myself to the utmost for your sake,
Though no soul tasked beyond its means can essay.