1. The branches of the acacia stood erect like soldiers before the sultan,
And the north wind came circling above their stature, thinking them to be boughs in paradise.

2. A Bedouin arrow in its nock, barbless on an unfeathered spear,
Showed cheeks red as blood, though none would imagine those to be anemones.

3. O noble beauty, we see you have estranged your lover in every place.
The stranger is base of spirit, inactive, like poetry among the tribe of Raslan.

4. A people whose branches reach Tinukh, while their roots ascend to Qahtan,
Their boys like old men in wisdom, their old men fierce as boys in war,

5. The delegations find with them a generosity that makes them forget their homes,
And they address everyone in his field as if one of them had a thousand tongues.

6. They hold power over Iraq - it has spread from it over strips to Lebanon.
In the ancient abode of the Arabs a desolation from them like the passion of Ma'reh for Nu'man,

7. They went down to the west of the country as the celestial spheres revolve in their circuits,
And there in the west the fairest east appeared to us on its horizon,

8. Two moons from which there rose a most pious father for the sake of a most intrepid son,
The most pious father and most eminent son in whom the traits of nobility vied as in a horse-race.

9. What excellent princes they both are, both commanded to do good and show kindness,
The righteous, the just, the perfect, who stand in obedience to the Merciful!

10. Do not reckon me a panegyrist, but a relater of facts that I saw plainly.
I relate as I know, and leave my hearers to praise - the matter is no concern of mine.