1. The nights' turns do not last, their covenant fails
And the hands of death cannot be resisted or repelled

2. They greet us absentmindedly, and attack deliberately
Their help is transgression, their moderation, purpose

3. I wonder at one who is fooled by paradise in it
Of life without peace or coldness

4. In every day the misfortunes attack
Ripping open the pocket or breaking the forehead

5. I see everything familiar is quickly missed
So why is missing intimacy not missed

6. I've lost men whose vigor in distress was protection
They were my back, my seller and hand and ally

7. The night of adversity makes them shine
And the beauty of contrast reveals its opposite

8. I see everyone who gains gratitude after them
From people is a sacrifice unworthy of covenant

9. So I shunned intimacy, knowing that for me
The sword does not wear out if the sheath wears out

10. And I visited lands whose soil grows honor
And success thrives in the shoots of its valleys

11. Fearing I would remain devoid of kin
Alone, and find myself with those who have nothing

12. And when I turned my camel on the final journey
To a homeland where my beloved and I have history

13. And approached the landmarks of Al-Tawilah, recalling
The covenants of youth before old age persists

14. I asked the protected Faiha what ails its precinct
Now barren when its vitality used to show

15. Why is no echo heard from its water for a visitor
Nor any landmarks shown to its pursuer

16. It said: He who was my good fortune has fulfilled
The vegetation of glory is demolished and grandeur destroyed

17. So the glory of religion lies ravaged in the soil
And the noble generosity and the muscular man are gone

18. A youth taught by his soul the apex of asceticism
He became ascetic even in life

19. I saw no full moon before him enveloped by the earth
Nor sea before it held by the cove

20. Descendant of the Chosen's loyal kin and son of his grandson
His mother, father, and ancestors repent to him

21. When the most hostile litigator disputed, his evidence
Was for him the most potent proof

22. When he spoke a word, his action preceded his speech
He had no days or feasts or promises

23. If the hands of evil struck him, by my father
This is indeed the intended misstep

24. The pure of garb, body and conscience has passed
Gratitude his armor, chastity his coat of mail

25. And he left for us from his goodness, the goodness of his son
Who acts as his water left fragrance for us in roses

26. They are people who have ascended in eloquence
And the regions of their glory have become youthful while they are catapults

27. If one of them settles in a tribe, he is pointed to
As the unique scholar

28. It suffices them pride that he is their father
And it suffices him that one of them is his son

29. So one lamenting him, drawn near by recalling his beauty
In his remoteness is nearness, and his nearness, remoteness

30. God reward you! How you reached the utmost extent of glory
The zealous lion fell short of attaining

31. When people one day boast of their glory
Yours are a people whose glory boasts of them

32. Their small ones are accustomed to the backs of thoroughbreds
Until saddle and cradle are equal to them

33. They protected the armies' soldiers around their homes
With glory that no army or soldiers can protect

34. Homes of pillars that battering rams are shattered against
And lion thickets that the lions bolt from

35. They stood while the cold of life was fury to them
And were intimate while the heat of war was cold to them

36. And they became dignified until their constellations saluted them
No constellation but is auspicious in their region

37. You inherited their summit and followed their merit
So you are the peer of their nobles, a peer

38. If the breasts of beauties and gazelles weary you
The breasts of shields and steeds will make you yearn

39. In spite of me, may the earth not obscure you
And the delegation returns frustrated in its quest

40. And decline to respond to a questioner's plea
When you never declined a questioner response

41. I will cry for you with all an able man's discipline
Eulogizing you, which is the effort of one with no effort

42. If my eyelids cloud with tears
How many clouded eyes you cleared of rheum

43. If you have become obscured from us
Mentions, thanks, and praise have turned from you

44. One who is visited does not disappear and his meaning is present
One who is hidden remains, his vestiges visible