1. Is there any joy in remembering the days of youth,
Or hope of bringing back time gone by?

2. Should one be blamed whose streaming tears
Flow to the rocks as sorrow pierces his heart?

3. More loyal than high-minded zeal which disturbs him
Is a heart inclined towards the family of Salma.

4. When will we see the home of Life whose pact we made with them
Where the valley meets the sands of Na’man and Najd?

5. For them is a passion from our passion which brings us close –
Without their nearness hearts and livers would die.

6. When she who entrusted me, left on a day of parting,
She was like a caretaker, long absent from one in her trust.

7. If their home is far removed from us,
Still, they are the loved ones, even if distant.

8. My friend, look, as the valley lies before you,
Can you see any sign of life in what we view?

9. Alas! Alas for Najd and its dwellers!
Those whom misfortune and decay have overtaken.

10. To the sons of Sinan and his son Harim
My greeting speeds on its messenger-beasts.

11. In Musabthir they vie in their halting places,
The bucket-skins are looped around their necks.

12. Pressing onwards, they hasten to safety,
As the new moons rise over them.

13. The ships sailed the seas foaming with oars
When the violent winds lashed up the spume.

14. With youths like Indian swords – their passion
Sends them forth, all with some need to meet.

15. Travel distracted them till their tales flowed together
With none but the wine-skins gracing their necks.

16. I send them off while the night is furled closed
Though they have scarcely slept till I said “they have set forth”.

17. To camels whose saddles’ humps are threadbare
And whose girths the rubbing has severed and thinned.

18. I say to my clan, though the breaths are drawn hard,
“None but God – but let not the number decrease!”

19. “Make your way to the best of Kais’ sons, all are worthy;
He who seeks glory or help will gain there.”

20. “Draw goodness from their hands – both brim and overflow;
Through their swords, those far off drink full.”

21. “Blessed the house, auspicious its chieftain-lead,
Great his gifts – unlike one who but promises!”

22. “Men are of two streams in his generous ways,
Some give, while others but take as they come.”

23. “Spacious his hall, if all people together
Came thronging to him till time meets its end.”

24. “His register remains spreading to all
While tent-pegs stand rooted in soil.”

25. “Among men there are peers, but none is his peer,
No equal matches him, nor any contend.”

26. “I set forth at dawn, though it wearies me,
Till worry for what I find is relieved.”

27. “If men could eternally glory in pride,
Or live on through their days that have passed,

28. Or if some through merit sat throned o’er the sun
Foremost or in fame, enthroned from the first,”

29. “Then a people whose lineage goes back to Sinan,
Noble whenever their birth’s certified.”

30. “Mortal-kind when secure, demon-folk when enraged,
Lightning-lions when forced to fight on.”

31. “Envied for all the blessings granted them,
God does not remove what they’re envied.”

32. “Weighed in the scale or measured in bushels,
They would lean to grace, with none to match them.”