1. O time past, your flowing is of little use,
And I see you are bitter like saline water.

2. We are surrounded, though we had no picture,
Of you, and you had prepared for us before we were born.

3. O time, which flower of glory doesn’t fade?
Which kingdom doesn’t decline?

4. Did you let the she-camel drink in her meadows
A cup overflowing with black bile?

5. Qaram was rough like his name,
And Ahmad’s father didn’t beget women like him.

6. Two guiding stars - the star of lineage when
The guide gets lost, and the star of the belt.

7. This is a Zaghbibi zebra roaring in battle,
As if it is the buzzing of stirred-up flies.

8. This one’s forehead gleams through the darkness like a meteor,
While that one is like a blazing meteor.

9. Excellent is the shield for the living on their two days -
They were excellent provisions for tomorrow!

10. They witnessed no secret conversation or fierce war
Fueled by straight spears.

11. But we saw one as the pole on the horizon,
And one as the lamp of that scene.

12. Banu ‘Amr ibn ‘Amir were scorned
For them both, and its valley’s vegetation cheered up.

13. That’s how death is - it doesn’t settle for a fixed time
Except on the necks of ignoble people.

14. And if they are struck, that is a wound
From which no brave lion there emerges.

15. As long as that fertile source of honor
Remains in our innermost hearts, we don’t care about ruin.

16. Those are minor troubles, all of them,
Except the loss of Hajwah daughter of Muhammad.

17. Her illness indeed afflicted those not afflicted,
And her loss was truly felt by those who didn't lose.

18. Console her father Abu Al-Hubab, for these
Are sins that circulate among people and become rampant.

19. Mutammim has succeeded Malik,
And Labid preceded him after Arbad.

20. So if you are patient, you will be like the celestial body
Of a group who were patient. But if you despair, you will waver.

21. This is consolation with the tongue - if only
My eye could aid you with action!