1. A man indulging his heart's desires sees
honey in a passing cloud's sprinkled water.

2. While I, a man singed by the visible estate,
cloak gloom with more gloom,

3. and match the glancing doe when
she turns her parchment side from the arrow.

4. I ply the lash on the back of my she-camel to urge
her on though she continues to pace elegantly.

5. The fantasies of the wide-shouldered man shy
from you, outlining the bone beneath the flesh.

6. With your sword's blade or your tongue, the genuine
word slicing like the sharpest word.

7. Inform Qatádah though unsolicited
the reward comes more quickly if the gifts precede.

8. I praised you before the tribe when
the bone-breaker came begging to you.

9. They tossed you each widow
disheveled, carrying her sack of troubles.

10. You opened your door to hospitality at the hour
when doors close in crisis.

11. You put them down when they arrived penniless,
as one nursed on bounty's wont to do.

12. Your lands were rained on by the clouds' downpour --
not by the corrupter -- a shower that brought much good.