1. My abode is under the shade of humiliation and shame,
Yet I have the choice of glory and honor.

2. I rise each morn submitting to every low
Wretched one, with no protector or ally.

3. The chiefs know I am neighbor to the lean hyena
As I dwell beside the deer.

4. If Nur ad-Din's sharp sword is drawn against me,
Fear will outrun me when I try to flee.

5. With his blows the fates are washed away,
Sparks fly to Sirius on high.

6. The resolute warrior takes the loot as prizes;
The circling sphere of heaven fears his might.

7. He sheds upon the weakling foe a violence
That mingles with the water of his dignity.

8. I sacrifice myself for you, my lord, aid me,
For I have no victory but through you.

9. Why do I close my eyes to the firebrand
When you are its light?

10. He says, Ibn Shatiri shot me with an arrow.
You are my protection against it.

11. Restrain yourself from this confusion.
I see that drunkenness ends in shame.

12. Tomorrow I will call one who answers the summons
To sweetness, though so late and from afar.

13. He will return crestfallen, and my eye will be content
With your eyes, when the hut denies them a home.

14. O my Master, my ability is exhausted
By testing it, and I fear collapse.

15. Help me, do not lose me to one who cares not
If disgrace befalls him openly.

16. I wanted to satirize him but knew
That I, not he, would be the shamed, the disgraced.

17. What business have I with ugliness
When he has gained from it broken parts?

18. If I were to compare him to a donkey
The donkey would complain to its Creator about me.

19. When my eyes glimpsed him for an instant
His sides were bound in belts.