1. For Hind in sorrow's noble vest arrayed,
Appear the signs of parting and decay;

2. And o'er the plain are traced memorials
That fill the mind with thoughts of yesterday:

3. Amid them Najah's stones are steeped in tears,
And summer tracks and winter torrents stray.

4. Changed are the very marks that told of home;
Nor witness now remains of friend or foe,

5. Save that I see all living men rejoice;
For life itself is joy, and being so,

6. Joy still remains though joys themselves depart.
Shall I not send to Abdud Dhilâl news

7. Of thee, although a messenger can tell?
Thou hast betrayed my secret, known full well,

8. Yet art thyself of nobler souls the soul.
How can the right direction fail, when clear

9. The truth, and plain to all right-judging men
The path of duty lies? But envy's ban

10. Cleaves to thy home, and parts thee from thy peers,
From Sa'd and Owf and Amr, whose converse cheers.

11. On this hand barren northern blasts prevail,
On that the teeming south winds murmuring blow,

12. And thou, that should be free from all self-will,
Art shrunk with parching thirst, and niggard thrift;

13. So livest thou in bitter self-disdain,
While still the abject souls their vileness show;

14. I know this truth, - not idly dreaming so, -
That whomsoe'er his lord degrades, is vile.

15. Unless his ready wit and watchful care
Guard a man's tongue, it proves his chief betrayer

16. Nor let a man, whose will is rightly set,
With those who wish him ill in jest be met;

17. Souls by their nature may each other know,
And some be found congenial, some be foes.