1. O teacher of loved ones, what an excellent teacher
Do you see what is in my conscience and know

2. O teacher of loved ones, tell me about them
Which place in Tihama have they camped

3. Did they travel east in their journey or go west
Or did they settle among themselves or become suspicious

4. They are not fair to me, sleeping while I stay awake
My eyes are not like those who sleep

5. And in any case, whether they are unjust or loyal
May Allah not make their homes desolate

6. They said you cried blood while we shed tears
Tell them, does a tear resemble blood?

7. They said you concealed love when you made it public
Who can conceal what is in his eyelids?

8. Had I hid the love of their company
Illness would have slept while intense wakefulness does not sleep

9. Oh woe to them! Arabs when lightning flashed
They prepared to leave and packed up

10. They follow the grass wherever it bent
Hobbling their pregnant she-camels toward it

11. I would not have grieved their departure
Except for a gazelle among the howdahs moaning

12. A branch moves it and it sits still
Shining from beneath the veil then darkens

13. I have not forgotten their words at draughts of fever
Challenging fate and throwing arrows

14. The son of Humayr composed though he is the lord of poems
Of finest Arab verse none can compose like him

15. What harm can the hawk's whiteness cause
And with what do you see the brown crow boast?

16. I praise the prophetic king whose hands
Are honored by clouds as the most generous

17. And I served Mansur and the kings after him
And now serve his son the victorious king

18. Salman, this verse neither preceded
Nor followed my love for him

19. If the jealous one and his family shunned me
And I lost a refuge to visit and enjoy

20. I take pride in love before my mares
For there is Joseph, singing, and the plunder

21. The horses neigh in the garrison around him
Breastplates of David are abundant before him

22. And the white swords shine and straighten