1. A cry for one in agony transcending pain
Whose longing roams the darkness unconfined,

2. Yearning for the crescent moon, communing with the stars—
Where is the Orient’s dawn from Andalusia’s dusk?

3. A nightingale, taught by separation’s agony,
Spent the night tangled in the rope of woe,

4. Free in the sky’s expanse, reined by longing’s ache,
The earth too narrow though unbound and bare.

5. Whenever in the garden’s shade it felt forlorn,
It smiled, though weeping, from the place it cried.

6. Donning its cloak, it groaned, walked with effort, bent,
Seeming, when crouched, a weary, aged crone,

7. Seeming, when rising, crippled, hardly straight.
Yet still its beak showed gleaming midst the gore

8. Like drops of blood on the slim blade’s keen edge
That stretched then split where it had been secure.

9. Who sees the smooth split chrysolite’s twin sides
And weeps, heart-stricken, for its native folk,

10. Mourning beneath the delicate, thin screens?
His tongue was swift and freely spoke its mind,

11. Roaming unrestrained through desolate sands,
A plucked string sounding clearly, but at peace,

12. Sparks in the gloom or embers among ash.
His anguish, after stillness, was aroused:

13. The gloom is comfort’s home, the roof its rest.
Wounded, writhing, bearing up with broken wings,

14. When were they ever whole or at their best?
Time has been cruel, continues cruelty,

15. No matter whether he submits or stands.
Whenever he strikes his hands in new remorse,

16. Blood drips from his neck-ring and turban bands
Till his eyelids offer nothing left but blood

17. Set in his face like rubies fire-possessed.
By night he moaned, his feathers rustling, waved

18. In the soft, scented air by zephyrs fanned
Till his strength faded and he gasped for breath

19. Like warm dissolving traces of a dream
Or embers paling at the night’s far end.

20. That was no torque his throat had donned, but pain.
God bless his soul! Did he at all know

21. That it once breathed inside this breathing frame?
I said, “O Night, who is the spreader of his pain?”

22. She said, “Parting.” I said, “What is its breadth?”
She said, “A vale—the vale of endless woe

23. Not bounded by Hijaz or Iraq.”
I said, “But it lacks generosity of tears.”

24. She said, “The worst of tears are those unshed.”
We envy birds—what agony therein lies!

25. Leave birds; good fortune’s made their nests its goal.
When I could not find rest beneath the stars

26. As they sank down extinguished in night’s pall,
My eyelids rained upon my cheeks, tears flowed

27. Down my face—and what avails a drowning man
Crying aloud to one submerged like him?

28. For us alike this arrow causes pain;
All of us flee from destiny’s attack.

29. Consider how the world’s divided out
In lots, some sweet, some bitter for those who taste.

30. Look at mankind: you’ll scarcely find one spared
By fate’s sword thrusts, though screens may hide the trace.

31. O youth of Orient, heirs of glory’s house,
Saplings of pride and honest lineage bred,

32. Yournoble birth’s enough; disguise it not
With ways of Samir’s heirs now long since dead.

33. No prince ever entered through the door
Ofhonor’s book flung open for your line

34. Among the brilliant suns of Syria
You shone, and the crescent moons of Andalus.

35. The East took you as shining lights; then veered
And bent the West low, prostrate at your feet.

36. Can you recall the best of news—the tale
That history’s page recounts, rich, sublime, and great?

37. An outstanding gem set mid the necklace,
Something concealed for crown and throne to take—

38. It baffles thought, except by one who binds
His passion with a purpose purely aimed.

39. Truth draws his sympathy; his sign deserves
High station, though obscure and unproclaimed.

40. A noble scion of the warm Yaman,
Among the champions free and bold, a youth

41. Outstripping in his conquests, venturing
Beyond all bounds, untiring, quick to forge ahead—

42. He left aside all other spoils and aims
For the rule his people had let slip away.

43. Waves rose against him, venturing hazard’s gusts,
As if the waves, too, marched at fate’s command

44. Till came a shout from one who stood on shore:
“Salvation’s here! The covenant is signed!”

45. Trusting, he turned, submissive and resigned,
A lamb led unaware to slaughter’s yard,

46. The army shedding his pure blood, their hearts
Like flinty rock from which no spark is struck.

47. O you who despair, though still unstruck by death—
If you want life, hope!—when events are harsh

48. Do not feel your endurance cleanly ripped
Even if pressures peak beyond your strength.

49. Just wait, be patient, for relief will burst
Through what had seemed impenetrable walls.

50. He saw his power decline, dominion cease,
Yet he set out West with will undeterred

51. And soon achieved a kingdom men had lost
To remotest edges, beyond outspread plains.

52. Indeed—by God!—that plenitude was his:
No rugged road to glory had he faced

53. Too hard for one resolved to climb its sheer
And pitiless ascent, who does not ask

54. How or when,but only looks up to the stars.
A realm his people spurned was his to rule

55. Though fate and circumstance shift scenes around.
What structure built on true ambition’s base

56. Could ever shake or bring that kingdom down?
Nights passed while he held power’s guiding reins,

57. His troops ranged forward in successive flow.
Deprived of glory in the Orient,

58. He flung himself on brilliant Occident.
For a good man, whene’er disaster looms,

59. Good fortune peers from the distraught event.
An Umayyad in lineage, his quest

60. Strove upward on a steed of high descent,
His progress matched the moon’s, in lone retreat,

61. No riders near to drink the landscape in.
Nor was his state on qualities more built

62. Than his own noble traits of purity.
When morals are the ladder good men climb,

63. They rise and take possession of the stars.
There he ascended to exalted peaks

64. And sat himself on brilliance temples seat.
What equal kingdom did ambition found

65. As lands in West by conqueror annexed?
A youth who sprang from the most noble race

66. And ruled an age—none ruled so well that age.
Nights governed him, and in their turns they set

67. A leader fit, night after night in line.
Robbed of his might in the Orient’s sphere,

68. He flung himself on Occident for aid.
When what is good comes to a worthy soul,

69. Trials themselves flash with a face serene.
Heart, are not you his comrade, you who fared

70. Together, and together braved time’s whip?
While fate’s chance wheel kept turning round and round.

71. Languid gazelles with shapely lips and sleek,
And gathered nectar from the lips of bloom.

72. So take this epitome of life’s brief breath:
Its graph in one word phrases peak and pit.

73. Reflect how “union” starts, and “parting” ends it.
Each pair of opposites shows life’s true fit.

74. Dreams are delusions in the state of wake,
And death delivers wakefulness from dreams.

75. All of us soar awhile, until we plunge,
Though falling seem delayed beyond belief.

76. Salute this ship whose sails were never trimmed
By self-regard or fear of hazard’s rebuff.

77. Borne on the breeze of grace serene she flew
As heaven’s kindness breathed on her its breath.

78. The sea washed clean the wounds inflicted land,
And storms wiped out whatever grievance throve.

79. How did she know the one arriving here
Had left the Temple Mount on holy track?

80. An Umayyad, his journey set toward heights
On climbing path, choosing the peaks for goal.

81. His progress matched the moon’s lone flight, gold, pure,
No riders near to spoil the horizon’s ring.

82. What structure built on true ambition’s base
Could ever shake or bring its kingdom down?

83. Darkness and night together argue still:
Can black descent destroy such pedigree?

84. In Africa his people fell to strife,
Their pact of faith dissolved in clouds unclean.

85. The common folk are many; few cohere;
Yaman’s has lost its brilliant, piercing gleam

86. And Syria is reduced to tinkling bells
With jingling rings, not lances sharp and keen.

87. Wealth split his troops till two warring camps appeared,
Truth now between them lost, no longer seen.

88. Mistrust crept in; they sniffed the odor of
Calamity—relaxing, casual mien

89. Toward noble deeds meant death itself for them
Who climbed ambition’s height or strove ahead.

90. Take pity on this genius, pure of soul,
His heart aspiring, bold to steer and guide.

91. Extending as he gained in conquests wide,
He had no care to live in ease or pride.

92. For though possessed of absolute domain
In partnership with rule he placed delight.

93. He sent out to ask Andalus how fared
His brother hunter in that glad pursuit.

94. He stripped for war, but also brought the pen
To serve when views and messages were writ.

95. Greetings to you, O ship whose master took
No thought of shame or generosity’s debt—

96. For royal qualities made you their home;
The winds of grace sped you, delight’s tears your balm.

97. The sea has washed all wounds that hurt the land.
Good cheer wiped out whatever drew its groans.

98. Did Andalusia know who came their way
From Syria’s halls, the Sacred City’s gate?

99. An Umayyad, his journey set for heights
On climbing path, choosing the peaks for goal.

100. He left a realm whose people failed his trust
And came into another folk’s abode

101. Bringing his jewel—the sole resource he owned,
An heirloom gem from parental halls of pride.

102. No servants failed him, nor attendants left
Except the faithful few who stayed by his side.

103. A moon went dark, distraught, eclipsed—but still
He drew his light from ancestry sublime.

104. He found no ready troops to give support,
But only those who loved him long ago.

105. Trustworthy, loyal men of former days
Did not abandon him in that sore strait.

106. As Africa lost safety, concord, peace,
And the grand days of conquest were no more,

107. The nation failed to reunite again
When discord’s rout had crushed the weak and poor.

108. From Marwan came Umayyah’s recompense:
The murders and the tears and pain it wrought—

109. Then tree-trunks stripped of branches, left alone;
The crosses’ shadows overwhelming them.

110. Wrong ruled until it reached the darkest stain
That sword could reap or prison’s grip secure

111. Until the Abbasid summons offered hope
Ofjust requital for the crimes endured.

112. Alids donned the gown the Prophet wore,
Adding their light to light already blessed.

113. To Marwan previously the gown seemed proof
Those People of the House were scarcely worth

114. A thought. But wrong cannot conceal its tracks.
The world, whose eyes were stabbed, can still see plain.

115. They granted Marwan what his ancestors earned:
The blood they spilled, the crying and the pain.

116. You were an Umayyad, a falcon knight.
What fault rests on a falcon when not struck?

117. Ask where they buried those exalted men,
And you will find them in the hearts and souls.

118. What graves are graced by earth to hide beneath
The vilest dead, compared to Magian throngs!

119. For though interred, what corpses has one seen
More loathsome than these bodies when still whole—

120. Souls dead before the flesh that wrapped them round,
Not waiting for the final breath’s expulsion.

121. Yet many bones will speak when they proclaim
The virtues that the heedless ages left unknown.

122. So for yourself prepare a grave of words;
Build it of earned praise safe from all erosion.

123. Greed goaded you to mount construction’s heights.
Where are those mighty builders now? Say where!

124. Your fortress fared the same as you: each passed.
God knows of all that is, and what will be.

125. A shell inscribed on pearl—so was your fate,
Except the world is blind, and does not see.

126. Nor did death’s shadow leave your ramparts space;
Like the life of wishes, life goes quick.

127. A falcon, yes, Umayyad! When no stone
Strikes it, what blame rests on the falcon then?

128. Ask where they buried those exalted souls;
For their true grave, ask where it lies within.

129. What graves are dressed in earth’s adorning gowns
While rottenness inside smells worse than death!

130. Build your own grave of words; do not construct
From transient brick and stone doomed soon to crumble.

131. Ambition pricked you to ascend the heights.
Where are those climbers now? Where hid? Where gone?

132. Your mansion suffered just the same as you:
Both passed away. To God affairs return.