1. Their abodes weep to you their windswept plains,
Watered by the Pleiades in the darkness of night.

2. The rainy constellations pour out their drops upon them,
The spirits of the storm blast them with their blowing.

3. I detained a foe there, holding back his steed,
So my eyes poured tears of sorrow over them.

4. They saw the tents of the Arabs in the days of love,
But saw no Layla, so they spill their water.

5. O my two friends, may God bless you both
In their first abode—greet their courtyard!

6. Do not prevent me from being generous with tears
When sorrow enclosed them as I looked upon their desolation.

7. I swear by the fire I kindled in the morning
And whose smoke offended the asylum and its inmates.

8. Racecourses for the horses of youth and pastures
I grazed in them until I knew their rock rabbits.

9. I have not seen horse herds like their roe herds
Nor a wolf like me who then felt pity for them.

10. Nor is there one led more straight by his passion
In the dark nights when love guides me to their ruins.

11. And none provoked this passion save the doves
Who wept for them when I heard their weeping.

12. One who loves the slender-waisted will sing—
A lover wept for Layla and it stirred up her singing.

13. I am astonished at myself—how love has conquered me,
How the singing girls have provoked my refusal.

14. I am the sea—peril cannot cope with my power,
Beauty refuses that I should attain its presence.

15. Misfortunes waylaid my purpose but he drove them back,
A man whom cowardice did not encourage when sandgrouse flocked.

16. When disasters assail him he is steadfast before them,
A youth whose thoughts have prolonged their duration.

17. But no! By God, the enemies did not drive him back,
A hand that forestalled them, which they fear to oppose.

18. His forbearance rewarded them for the ignorance they displayed.
He is generous when the noble deeds present themselves.

19. If only nobles carved my stature,
I would be content with splendid payment.

20. But the vermin of the marches shot me down
So I honored myself by shedding their blood.

21. To you Abu Marwan I cast my cause
Though my soul did not war for their refuse.

22. I roused you at dawn to support me as though
I roused even mountains in their nakedness.

23. I broke the bonds of fate though it recoiled
With the resolve of a soul who refuses its survival.

24. How many a day you stood in its shadow
When disasters confronted us face-to-face!

25. And from a terrible stand you plunged into the foe
And the eagles there stripped off their plumage.

26. How many a nation you rescued—they were like
Wild cows blocking up their passes in fear!

27. And by an eloquent speech amid the roar of battle
You resolved its passions and controversy.