1. Turn away, and greet the journey, O travels!
Or how can an abandoned dwelling speak?

2. The loved ones vanished, and only the ruins remain
All dwellings, they are but abandoned ruins

3. Played with by Yemeni winds
You see its landmarks though you don't know them

4. Every violent wind assailed it
Winds not for their strength to be proud of

5. Evening winds, wandering winds blow
Winds of morning raid, their month long

6. Kharaqa, devouring mountains and expanses
Its belly empty, and pale yellow

7. Al-Quf weaves it, showered by rain
Smooth dome glittering white

8. Al-Hirba cloaked itself, grunting
As it gnaws its veins and scrapes

9. And from its mosque’s balconies I knew
Two stones, so long they've been by time wore

10. Crying for the emptiness, I said as they cried
After your crying, what more patience

11. If you come from Aden, so remote
Its talk polite, its people kind

12. Putting words in their right places
And their speech after it, so sparse

13. Divert, O doubter, the youth may grow
The broken is mended, the little becomes more

14. Youth is gone, and old age comes
Brothers changed, and time too

15. And I went out fearing nothing
No dread to be cautious of, no fright

16. The shedding of youth as if I were a branch
In holy Mecca, smooth and green

17. Like a draft of wine, its trouble forgotten
To each destined matter, its fate

18. Since daybreak it has had its time and night lingered on it
And wine was forbidden it

19. A gallant she-camel, covering it a cloak
Below which a screen was lowered

20. If you visit them by night, there is
The music of lutes, and a drunken gathering

21. And two crickets singing for them
On them pearls and beads

22. And a sparkling wine skin, its leather
Curved like a bear's back

23. And two singers, chanting between them
The melody of the strings is jarring

24. And their camel, saddled, with bells
Hurt neither by dirt nor fleas

25. If it groans, it splits its lip
If it brays, it is still a virgin

26. Leave the path free, for the Didban have
Faded away, and the suite dispersed

27. Give yourself to dusk brought you peace
And enjoy the morning, O Fate

28. Do not follow them when the north wind blows
Nor its dusty horizons

29. Brave if the war drums beat, and they
Victorious if victory delayed

30. I was no spy among my people
Even if a disobeyer, his affair is ordained

31. You tasked me with the gnat's brain
So I fell short, no success, no excuse