1. Alas! When covenants burden you,
And modesty prevents you from responding,

2. Were you to remove the veils from yourself, you would shine
With lights fueled by their passion for you.

3. Your cheeks gleam brightly and your face blooms
Your nose like a polished smooth sword.

4. Were you not to wear jewelry and adornment
It would cover you so none could envy you.

5. In you beauty and charm are complete
Captivating minds and capturing hearts.

6. So here I am, despite my attempts and resistance,
A lover of coy and affectionate ladies.

7. Think not that five months’ estrangement
Is equal to a hundred of my being spiteful toward you.

8. Your estrangement is but two estrangements by the full moon, so forgive me,
For the solution lies with you, and that is what I seek.

9. By God, I turned not away in disgust
Nor did a resentful heart spurn my passion for you.

10. Rather, thus is he who wages war - he grows not tired
Even if cheeks incline toward him.

11. You have my vow: soon after I appear
I will visit and fulfill your rights and return.

12. Moreover, my pact is no ephemeral thing; my covenant is binding
And my appointment is sure.

13. Have you not looked upon me, O virtuous girl,
As belonging to East and West where people dwell?

14. I have fulfilled my word whileBedouin pacts were never kept -
Those wandering tribesmen have no covenants.

15. Wondrous that they schemed as they schemed
When armies with swords never marched against them.

16. They submitted before battle and fled away
Like Thamūd who fled before punishment.

17. Strange is a world whose people are heedless -
It matters not to them whether awake or asleep.

18. I praised but they stirred not, and I blamed but they turned away.
I was silent and they fell asleep though God witnesses all.

19. Content with the seat of humiliation they made peace,
For the witless are soon humiliated.

20. I have become a proud man in my earthly life, though withdrawn
Stingy toward my religion, from which I ward off harm.

21. My heart and resolve are hardened, my ascent is steep,
My sword keen of double edge and fresh forged.

22. I will not die except with the spears broken
Around me, as flocks descend on carrion.

23. I ceased to suddenly raid the young one among ladies,
Shading their faces from me though they glance.

24. Oh what misfortune that I have not noble tribes
Who beneath the swords would have beds of roses!

25. Oh what misfortune! How long will the white oryx
Drink the blood of wild cows or dust soil their cheeks?

26. When I watered the ravines of a valley with blood
The fleeing white oryx did not last with their mulishness.

27. The sword and the whip - those two are the cures!
For I am resolved to apply the remedy unsparingly.

28. But where? Who? Then will protect? Or has any strength remained?
Unless, no! By God Saeed has returned!

29. Saeed, in an alien land, but I trust him
After God explicitly with formidable certainty.

30. Happy Saeed, generous with wealth for companions,
Seeking more - "Pray God grant me increase," he said.

31. Happy Saeed, stranger in the waste, alone,
His sons black-nosed and honorable.

32. Who will inform Saeed and his sons about me
To gain their good praise and return it?

33. Abu'l Qasim, hear my tale that you may wonder
And you, being wise, consider my affair:

34. I sought in the valley of Hadhramaut but found
No one to thwart enemies and plot against them.

35. I traveled to Oman. I said, “I will find there
Valiant tribes” - but the place was too distant.

36. They freely gave wealth, not lives, to serve me
So I returned, rejected though the Imam is wise.

37. I did not trust that if I stirred up conflict
And stirred heavy troubles he could respond capably.

38. I took the path of valiance, leading my army
And banners heralding our presence.

39. When the misguided ones saw my burning resolve
Adding life while misguidance was dying,

40. It became clear to destroy me through betrayal,
So they slipped away in flight while the Muslims slumbered.

41. Sufficient are you as a light they extinguished! But they
Are witness to what they do.

42. They resented none save that my resolve
Deviated from sin and the accursed stone.

43. They saw me as a man who clads not truth in falseness
Nor follows misguidance wherever it leads.

44. So their minds took flight in fear of God -
Behold them, their many gathered against me in hatred!

45. Opposites allied to frighten me
Harmfully, but crowds did not assemble against me.

46. If the wicked hoped to find in me some weakness toward injustice,
“None rules but you,” they would say.

47. But how so when injustice at its root is impotence and alarm
Of sinners - would I drive them God sees me?

48. I would be humiliated even as my religion remains pure; never
Would I be honored if monkeys blemished my religion!

49. If I found no pure, cleansing water
God’s earth sufficed me for ritual prayer.

50. And if the ropes of tribulation pulled taut for me
And it lingered, my patience for it was long.

51. As for my heart, to despair - it took flight!
So as long as I live, despair is exiled.

52. Good fortune to you, O son of my kinship,
For I die with my determination still fresh

53. While you - shed blood liberally for the oppressed champions!
Trust that, with victory, it will be bountiful.

54. Just as God helped Al Mukhtar Ahmad after
His people denied him and he was abandoned with filth and stones cast on him, alone.

55. May God bless him! No dawn broke
Without him being moved by the clouds’ tumult.