1. To a burning anguish in my heart
Rushing to you is a sea of words

2. And tears from the eyelids that shone with it
Until it flows between humility and the pen

3. A debt to one with a worldly family that you have fulfilled
And a mercy that reached from me to one with kinship

4. His nobility is my nobility and his humiliation is my pain
His injustice is my injustice and his nonexistence is my nonexistence

5. If I drive back the Indian swords from his blood
Then they have only recoiled from my being and my blood

6. And if I erect a porch to protect his sanctity
Then it is my veil that I have extended over my sanctity

7. I yearn for him and misfortune has befallen him
A leg cannot stand steady on a foot

8. So he spends the night kindling the cold's fire with burning
And extracting tears from stone with pain

9. Neither are my eyes free of vigil for his dwelling
Nor my ears free of hearing his lament

10. If only it were a hardship I could relieve by sighing
Or with the smooth spear or the notched blade

11. But it is a hardship whose places are too high
For the reach of a banqueter or an avenger

12. So I did not shake because of it except a pen of youth
Seeking amnesty or crying out for generosity

13. To Him whose power has ruled with amnesty
When destiny called "Rule, O Father of Judges"

14. And who when rancor smoulders in his chest
Is a dazzling lightning bolt or a pouring rain

15. When has he who is exiled tasted the heat of summer
Then good tidings to him of the cool north wind

16. You meet battalions with resolute courage
And the excuse of his adversary in retreat