1. My stance remains firm despite the crushing blows of time,
Undeterred am I by the fear of mortality's grip.

2. With true resolve many a strait seems spacious,
Through genuine determination it expands with ease.

3. Whoever dreads his end, it soon overtakes him,
And he dies more abject than crumbs in the dirt.

4. Leave me be with kings in every land,
For their might spans but handsbreadths to my acres.

5. Neither oaths nor wealth make them rise above my left,
Or exceed the reach of my hands in their plenty.

6. The slave girl's daughter admonishes my ruin,
And my plunge into perils against my will,

7. Chiding my spending of wealth unfairly,
Claiming it belongs to the needy, she insists.

8. But I said, as she grew brazen and bold:
Gently girl, you'll not be obeyed in this.

9. By my soul! My hearing is deaf,
To the idle prattle of impudent women.

10. Shall I worry about parting, when every ravine,
Is rent asunder by death in the end?

11. Shall I dread my dying, when each living soul,
Will be mourned by kinsmen when his end is nigh?

12. Shall I fear poverty, when the world is but borrowed,
And my Lord in His bounty is of grace sublime?

13. Let me ride the terrors - I see hope,
In facing them with steadfast will.

14. Of what use is life to a man,
If he's counted as trifles among men?

15. Our land has cattle aplenty,
Though ravenous lions lurk between.

16. Does a beast still graze, hearing but the cries
Of predators, midst the meadows green?

17. When longing severs a people's hearts,
Mine yearns for reunion, I confess.

18. If sadness draws me to my homeland,
My purpose is always to reach my loved ones.

19. The weak-willed grieve their homelands from afar,
While the resolute roam unfettered and free.

20. How many a long estrangement came to an end,
As hope summoned a joyous reassembly!

21. Events have opposed my will time and again,
But I trust my own strength to subdue them, God willing.

22. By the Most High! I and loftiness are twins,
Like myself and the morning dew, suckled together.

23. When sorrows becloud me, I do not meet them
With desperate or fanciful ideas.

24. Nay, but with resolute will and ample capacity
For noble deeds, however dire the plight!

25. Weary am I of roaming the arid plains,
Sleeping among the boulders, fatigued each night.

26. When my people's homes spring up before me,
My steed will bear me to them in all haste.

27. I will reclaim my forefathers' rights and mine,
Though it be from between the vipers' fangs!

28. Meeting death pursuing lofty goals,
Pleases me more than living in meek submission.

29. The lion bares his teeth when prey appears -
Such is the nature of the valiant and the brave.

30. Some beguile me from greatness, but where are
The true stalwarts against such trickery and deceit?

31. Shall I remain a follower when I excel all,
And all humanity follows in my steps?

32. Every slave-born peon derides my clan,
Though he crawls from one shackle to the next.

33. Their raving concerns me not, for I see but raving,
While my rebuke spares not the rabble's brood.

34. I am descended from the early pioneers,
The lords of realms and towering deeds.

35. We are the pure origin of Rabi'ah's line,
Rising above the branches to the lofty trunk.

36. The Nizar know our swords strike on the day,
When warring factions meet in the melee.

37. We are Ma'add's unfailing defenders,
Her champions in combat, stalwart and staunch.

38. We forbid her foes from setting foot therein,
Routing them from her lands without remorse.

39. We declare her banned to all suitors,
No courtship or chase will she abide!

40. She has ever found in us a guardian,
At all times a keeper - her every need met.

41. Naught preserves eminence and glory,
Like wealth freely given and freely spent.

42. When we boast, we speak of every wise and forbearing king,
Mighty, capable, defiant, obeyed.

43. Through courage and generosity we raised our glory,
And the lofty stars of auspiciousness shone upon us.

44. Through us the sparrows sing carefree,
While lions quake at the hyenas' howls.

45. Once ignored as a trivial speck,
Man's now obscured, concealed in his very marrow.

46. We left him as if never worth a mention,
While he became like a hillock 'twixt the dunes.

47. We crowned a fool our tribal chief,
That he might lord over commoners and fools.

48. Thus he came to be counted wise and rational,
When once he was dismissed as rabble of no account.

49. We feared him, a raging tyrant -
His tyranny heralded collapse and ruin.

50. Let not ignorance thus lead astray a people,
For often it is meekness that uplifts the lowly.

51. Our swords have ever harbored healing,
Curing heads of the pains that plague them.

52. Tubba', Caesar, both the Nizar, and Dhu l-Qal'a
Tell of them - their temper fine and keen.

53. How many lands we've toured on their wings!
How many deserts we've roamed, far and wide!