1. When slumber overcomes the south wind,
Greetings to the risers, and farewell.

2. O you who rouse hopes from their dormancy,
You are the lifeblood of the country.

3. Plunge into the fray glorifying, for it is only
A raid and an expedition for the Messenger.

4. Indeed if the tyrants wound its majesty,
The leaders and governors will attend to it.

5. When the edifice of life cracks or collapses,
Souls perish and ambitions crumble.

6. Kingdoms either pardon or perish if
Rights and sanctities therein fade.

7. The unworthy have failed the nation and misled
This populace – they are criminal villains.

8. After its guidance, caprices have swept over its dreams,
And desires have overwhelmed its aspirations.

9. Why quarrel when the country is seized
And the countrymen are shackled prisoners?

10. Will not the ignorant awaken so the clouds
Of life disperse and the glooms clear?

11. Who taught those charging into chaos
That struggle is disgrace and humiliation?

12. No good in the quarreling even if they refuse,
Until there is tranquility and composure.

13. War thunders in the country with its rumbling,
And hardship breaks the people’s backs.

14. Affliction has befallen them – some starved,
Others naked.

15. Wealth is departing in purses carried
Disdainfully by collectors.

16. Hoping at best an evening will pass
Greeted or shunned on the morrow.

17. In every field is indignation and blame,
In every house are groans and complaints.

18. Were the means facilitated for the farmers
Or tools enabled for the makers?

19. He who tilled the fields for another
Would despair had they no crops or plants.

20. My palm groves – would they benefit me
If I had no share of their fruit?

21. Better that we were trees whose thorns
Torment us while others take the fruit.

22. The costs of living have spread and relieved
Among the people nobles and commons.

23. They were the saviors of the desperate when
The times were oppressive and dire.

24. They know no avarice and only
Obey, suffer torment, and pay.

25. Justice is giving the hireling reward
If the country has upright judges.

26. The nation’s afflictions, if you consider, are many,
And the people’s misfortunes diverse.

27. One weeps biting his fingers while another dances
Shook by pleasures amid wines.

28. Why, my brothers – are they our masters
Or are we insects in their Gospel?

29. Where are those who wounded the nation of those
Who are scourges to nations and peoples?

30. Indeed, the truth hurts – not the tormented flock
That grazes disgrace, or the wolves as shepherds.

31. And enough – do souls not turn from passion?
Lessons pass – great ones and admonishments.

32. Within my heart I once had a fortress
Which for anguished souls was salvation.

33. I wondered at the world’s afflictions melting it
And at griefs melting it away.

34. Or is it whenever an ordeal befell Egypt,
Rancor boiled and tears overflowed?

35. Evil requited from its children
While it is all pure virtues.

36. It moans with care for them, so it loves them,
Yet their hearts toward its love are frozen.

37. Ask if they are dear counselors
Or foes to beware and evade.

38. We hope their minds will repent after absence
And the dissensions subside.

39. They presumed ill of us, saying a faction
Seeking the impossible – yet we are confident,

40. Not bending before usurpers’ hands, so
The stout-hearted do not bend at the crux.

41. You see them submissive, humiliated,
Yet among men, they are the humiliated and resolute.

42. What rule, what constitution – what is this
The unworthy alleged they sought life yet died?

43. Tour the offices and thrones asking
What the greatest anguish endures.

44. Weep for the coquettish one – for her sanctities
Are that tears do not dry up.

45. Weep for the playful sleepyhead and say to her
The men sat while villains arose.

46. God suffices you – if you are harmed
By one betraying or injuring you.

47. Despair not at the turns of your fate but stand fast
For valor is patience and certainty is firmness.

48. You are the assemblage of ages and their people,
And the examples recorded of you suffice.

49. You know every event in the past
And none shall elude you in the future.

50. In you are life’s beauty and majesty,
And yours are time’s powers and resolves.