1. The mosque, the great gathering place of religion, has crumbled,
As have the monasteries and the open plains.

2. I built them up over years of hard work
Until my youthful vigor began to fade.

3. They were filled with young men like swords -
Cracked by the flame of youth but tempered with discipline.

4. Then time turned against them, and they scattered,
Taking up the reins of fate in foreign lands.

5. Never again will time produce their like -
How wondrous they were! Their memory amazes me!

6. When I was certain their company would not return
As long as I lived, my heart was crushed,

7. I showed a patience no other has shown,
And misfortunes beset me from all sides.

8. Thus, when I lose a brother,
No bond of blood remains between us.

9. My tribe is Ghutayr, and my homeland the meadows
Of Al-Kharaj - a summer home, where grapes nursed me.

10. Their sap nourished me, their shade embraced me,
And flames leapt high in the brushwood.

11. When the boughs swayed low, they covered me,
So none could see what lay in my lap.

12. At night I stayed in a shelter, mourning
Like bereft women mourning what was stolen.

13. My longing and theirs rose up together,
As if some mischief had made us rave.

14. So I took to the breast that nursed me, like a child
Clutching his mother when gripped by colic.

15. Until I chose a lass from Daskarah,
Whom the years and epochs had worn down.

16. I unveiled her on a moonless night
When the weaver of fates stirred in the gloom,

17. Weaving a threadbare shroud, with no cloak,
No grave-niche in the earth, and no tombstone.

18. Then I cinched her waist with the belt of chastity,
And she flamed up before me like fire.

19. The forbidden draft was poured for the remorseful,
And the thorns of parting were our lot.

20. I say, as the two vie in their likeness,
"Which of the two is golden?"

21. They are the same, but between them lies
The fact that they are solid, while I flow.

22. Polished idols like her stand engraved,
With priests and crosses carved on them.

23. They recite their Gospel, and above them
Is a wine-red sky with clusters for stars,

24. As though pearls scattered by the hands
Of maidens roused to play.