1. His tears flowed relentlessly
And the fire of his passion burned intensely

2. And it is the right of the beloveds to never
Withhold clouds of tears for them

3. I did not fall short in asking the companions
But I asked, and they did not respond

4. I saw the grey hair appear so I said hello
And bid farewell to youth and misguidance

5. It is not that I aged due to oldness
But I saw in the loved ones what turned white

6. They sent against me an army of worries
And made the acts of turning away their mounts

7. Did you not see us as the most honourable of people
The swiftest and most steadfast in side

8. For us is the mountain overlooking Nizar
We made its plains and plateaus permitted

9. People prefer us and do not avoid us
And we are described with beauty and do not pretend

10. Rabee’ah and even Nizar knew
That we are the head and people are the tail

11. And when the fools of Ka’b transgressed
We opened between us the gates of war for them

12. We gave them ruinous warfare but
When they attacked, we gave them perdition

13. When the sword of the faith revolted angrily
Like you provoked lions to rage

14. His tongue when it meets a challenge
His swords when they meet the strike

15. He called us and the tongues were unfurled
So we were responsive to his call

16. A making whose maker surpassed it, so it surpassed
A planting well-watered by its planter, so it thrived

17. We were like arrows when they hit
Their targets, so their archer hit

18. He cut through the land with us to the tyrant
And we bent the Subayrah and the domes

19. We traversed the desert with intrepid determination
Observing mirages but no mirage

20. We crossed at night while night was still a child
And arrived at Salamiya as it grew up

21. Nadi bin Ja’far led the troops of Uqail
That poured through its valleys

22. They did not notice them except when they halted
The thundering of the drums made them shake

23. They shared glory on a day
When souls were seized

24. They shouted so horses burst out of every ravine
Champions selected for us to choose

25. So they were not but prisoners to us
And there was naught for us but spoils

26. As if Nadi bin Ja’far had led them from gifts
For which no rewards made them recoil

27. And they resolved themselves with Bani Quray’
But they were disappointed - no father to them and they perished

28. And we drove them to bewilderment like a herd
Just as we herd restive camels

29. We quenched Bani Qushayr with spears
In the belly of Uthayr the melting poison

30. So when the struggle intensified we were
Fiercer of claw and sharper of fang

31. And firmer of flank and more honourable as neighbours
And most faithful of pacts and least blaming

32. We made the Byzantines recoil - we did not want them
As if we avoided water altogether

33. And we rained upon their foreheads with our lances
But with piercing tips - devastatingly accurate

34. And we split the skulls of Saḥsaḥah - it cracked as it broke
And they avoided confrontation with us by withdrawing

35. They inclined away from Ghuwayr and marched on
Until they reached springs of Tadmur and its wastelands

36. We settled near Samawah among Uqail
The beasts and birds of prey of the land

37. And at dawn - and dawn is a servant -
We killed their prime from among them

38. We left in the houses of Bani Muhanaa’
Bereaved women who wailed over them

39. Bakr therein saw grudges fulfilled
And clouds passed over them, clouded

40. We distanced K’ab for the evil of their deeds
And drew dogs near for their obedience

41. And we dispersed Tai’ to the Golan
And avoided the sky of their Samawah

42. No clouds lodged over Uqail
Or drew flies over their vicinity

43. And we raced on horses to Numayr
Pulled by their forelocks

44. With every escort proud of himself
Too dear for the clan for him to be hurt

45. His directions were not straitened but
He feared zeal that he would be zealous

46. And he ordered us so we sufficed the enemies
Ambitions - if he willed he finish and return

47. So when they despaired that there was no savior
They called him for rescue so he answered

48. And he returned to treating them kindly, so they
Offered their necks to his blade

49. Fear and safety he let alternate upon them
He made them taste in it harm and good health

50. He settled them in the peninsula after despair
A brother of forbearance when he takes revenge

51. Their homes we seized by forceful dispossession
And their land we usurped by wrongful usurpation

52. If we wished, we would have protected it with warriors
As lions protect their thickets

53. Whenever the princes mobilized an army
Against enemies, we forwarded a letter

54. I am the son of those who strike skulls
When attorneys dislike concussion

55. Do you not know - and one like you said truthfully:
That I punctured them with comets