1. Gone are the glorious days of Mayya's abode,
Do songs unravel for ruins or spoils?

2. My promise to it as the full moon broke his promise,
The passion there – its playground the fertile expanse.

3. Clad in the art of soft rain and dew,
With no sash yet a sash, and tribe yet no tribe.

4. Beauty there lost itself, so it grew conceited
A settlement for whoever yearns, and rest for the weary.

5. Tranquil in righteousness as the price rested,
Rampant in evil as the flock dispersed.

6. Flirtatious maidens for a coquette turned
No shape or soil theirs in beauty and grace.

7. A sight that binds all eyes never stopped
Going and coming in its tireless ardour, that love.

8. The people’s horsemen in pairs and alone
Intoxicated with her eyes as if they were drink.

9. To Khalid we came with a wide plain,
Its dismounted fighters like toppling hills.

10. The soft sands blew over it and it became
Foliage though before in its plain a plateau.

11. To a king - if not for the strife of his gifts -
There would be no helper for good nor tower for aid.

12. Of pure descent, veiled from vice and rancour,
No clouds veil the sky from his generous hands.

13. Lofty virtues – no increase makes him prouder
No excess, no partner, no kin to consult.

14. No twice foolish, no fortress confined him,
No mighty lion’s paw did Ali restrain.

15. The excellent ancestors of Bakr ibn Wa’il
And Qahtanite Adnan and his father Nibt.

16. They passed and were Najd’s pillars and its land’s
Bones seen whenever disaster's threat loomed.

17. Their lineage like dawn in which no path shows
Hidden, no rebel valley, no rugged cliff.

18. He is the free-roaming sacrifice whose branches sprawled
And the ground was fragrant where he walked, the soil wholesome.

19. The tribe elder felt his place too small for his knowledge vast
He saw a glory some wished to steal - so remote from them, so near to his people.

20. O pivot of life in Sheiban do not weaken!
O star of life in Sheiban do not fade!

21. None marched but in their homes did dew fall
None grew strong but in their dens did war grow.

22. They are people of repute - if not for their deeds,
The steps would cease as no glory remained.

23. The battle of Dhi Qar - gone, unmatched
Alone of its kind, no comrades had that day.

24. By it the non-Arabs knew he
By it the Arabs expressed their soul's essence.

25. It was the decisive stage by which no armband or cross
Remained for Chosroes son of Chosroes.

26. I say to the border people, yearning has ended
And blessings poured and the people gathered.

27. So roam the horizon and graze
Without a road, Khalid's sanctuary your road.

28. A man with him – the best and worst of rewards
From him – disdainful denial or sweet kindness.

29. I smell a Syrian who walks ahead of him
A month’s march, dread in his regiments.

30. When Tu’ayyil saw your banners that
Cannot be faced when they flutter, even by the firm.

31. He turned and fled not slowing his flight,
As if fleeing crazily, pouring onwards.

32. As if by your cry the lands of Rome huddled
Gathering their beasts or their center rumbled.

33. The lesser end, Tinnis, and Iqritra
The lands of Carthage and Apolakia quaked.

34. Fearfully asking books’ aid, submitting to you
No messengers swayed you, no books.

35. The fierce lion never opposed
His roar, even if blamed or barked at by a dog.

36. He passed as the fire of distress burned his heart
The soul feels only the grasp of distress.

37. He went fleeing East, his soul
Of itself expecting the worst because of ill thoughts.

38. He shunned the East until an ignorant man thought
The Christians faced West in their prayers.

39. You returned the cloth of religion smooth after
Its days and nights had become coarse.

40. With every young warrior exposing himself to the spear
Welcoming death, his adornment stab and strike.

41. Firm mountains when called to battle near the frenzy
You see them - their feet as if riding!

42. Of the well-armed, no dawn clears but by them
No fate turns nor time passes but through them.

43. No virgin distinguished herself in fierce war
Nor did a matron unless by them, her suitors.

44. You set the system of gifts so no millstone turned
Except by you its pivot.

45. Whenever Rabia boasted you were its heart
Beating behind two covers of glory.

46. By it the ground is watered and your softness sprouts
By it the rainwater bubbles though it bubbles not.

47. By your generosity clouds disperse when thick
And the white becomes varied in its hues.

48. He is the ship of glory to every mistress
And the lofty - but a towering, formidable ship.

49. If a reason finds a man lost, in your presence
My wish finds the angry reason submissive.

50. A journeyer on earth whom no departing
Distracts from it - profound, endless sadness.

51. Shedding sunbeams in every town
Moving unrestrained - no West turns it back.

52. You did not defend the helpless virgins
No injustice that, no force.

53. When recited among the people they are like
Hidden grandeur or enveloped in pride.

54. Strung with chosen pearls, of poetry only
That it is juicy, succulent pearls.