1. Blame me not, for blame does not ease calamity,
Nor transgress in it the bounds of gentle reproof;

2. Not all who halt have stumbled headlong,
Nor has every horseman gained spoils.

3. In endeavor lies success, and souls are precious;
Yet not all gain who barter them for vain desires.

4. Safety has still been ranked above wealth and profit,
More than rule, for all its envied glory.

5. You have spurred me on although my strength gave out;
Let well-wishing suffice you, and forego reproach.

6. Denounce me not, when you my succor are
In the adversity of fate.

7. Kind counsel is better than harsh rebuke
In gentle words from one who gives good advice.

8. Truthful counsel still brings help to resolves;
No benefit in counsel that excoriates.

9. One such as I needs generosity,
Gentle of nature, calming to one troubled.

10. His touch is soft to one threadbare;
He meets each wish at the asking.

11. For him the seeker attains the sought,
Petitioner, petitioner, speaker, spoken to.

12. How excellent in character is one high minded,
His gifts contend with clouds' prolific showers!

13. Like life-giving rains he comes to all who seek;
I flee him like a coward, a scheme not meet.

14. I'm torn between desire and fear of him,
While fate's dominions are obscure to me.

15. I hope yet fear for my wretched soul,
As God's unseen decrees shape destiny.

16. Would that one showed my fate before my course,
For endings come not first, nor consequences causes.

17. Calamity followed calamity until
I feared the ground itself might split asunder.

18. Bearing destitution proves an easier burden
Than risking lives to further feed ambition.

19. On land I suffered horrors then at sea
Assailed by waves from every corner rising.

20. I've drunk a flooding deluge, loathed it, loved
Soft pleasant rains - so great had hardship grown.

21. Not I called rains but destiny conspired,
To mock and ruin me, a foolish lad.

22. To God I cried against time's foolishness,
Tormenting me since I was but a child.

23. Refused to hydrate dust before my strides
Brought me there, then visiting in kind excess.

24. Drenched the land on my account, till itliquefied,
Camels swaying whether riders prayed or no.

25. Impeding progress, floundering every mount,
Pretending care, from glory turning back.

26. Thus I came upon a ruin for a lodge,
Reeling like the drunk, no rest within or out.

27. No repose here for the tired, no lodging,
Sleepless nights and darkness without end.

28. A roof so much like ravenous birds overhead,
Creaking, bowing under moisture's heavy weight.

29. Many lodgings fell just so, with travelers in them,
Like a hawk swooping down upon its prey.

30. Nor will I forget the woes of summer days,
With crackling clay and winds of flame about.

31. How often fire we kindled in the waste -
Its sparks did reach us, searing brow and veil.

32. When the desert glowed white hot, swelling, seething
In a flood whipped up from dusty worn remains.

33. Once it dried, the winds blasting, it allowed
No drink, withheld its water, bonds restraining.

34. Now and then a flood to drown me, without rains,
At times a drought - no mercy for these pains!

35. Still the land persisted, raining blows by tempest,
Or by frozen mass, binding fast its people.

36. If from them some moisture slipped, or snowflakes flew,
In cutting blasts or sweltering heat they perished.

37. So winters plagued me by experience there -
How many summers boded ill besides!

38. Ah how often scorching winds upon the land
Sear bodies to the bone, leaving no voice to cry.

39. Spare me descriptions of the wintry north,
For one who dreads the sea it is the worst of fates.

40. Both climes afflict, each season in its turn;
Not what one wishes, with no constancy.

41. Suffocating in the white heat, lethal swelter;
Killing frost descending with no guide in sight.

42. It sears when winds blow hot, but then withholds
Its water, when the air blows cool and soft.

43. And turns to flood just when I fear its drought,
Or parching death, if the clouds travel light.

44. Still seeking to destroy me, circling round,
Bent on murder though no blood feud stood.

45. Sometimes it shocked me with a morning raid,
Or ambushed me when day slipped into night.

46. Until God saved me from its wickedness,
In His glory did He aid, defeat my foe.

47. Escaping its rapacious jaws, salvation
Came to this penitent and God-reliant soul.

48. But the sea's tribulation in my eyes
Is a tumultuous chaos of the spirit.

49. Had mind returned I would not have recalled
Some of its horrors - so profound the dread.

50. Why not? Cast in it, any boulder
Would plummet to the depths, no footing trace.

51. I learned naught from swimmers but to plunge,
To flounder, helpless, mastered by the waves.

52. More tender my compassion for the sea:
Crossing in a cup I fear its minor raids.

53. And for a ship passenger, how great the alarm
When gales whip waves to titanic heights!

54. I see in them champions with purpose bent,
Brandishing swords, surging toward me forth.

55. You say it may be crossed, the sea's expanse,
Euphrates to the sea a slender thread.

56.
No excuse then for one who dreads its form,

57. Though for the verdant swamp some pardoning.
I say the Euphrates wears a guise of calm,

58. Dogged by ignorant violence in its depths.
It plays serene, till we are reassured,

59. Then rages at the winds' impertinence.
But its depths conceal all kinds of treachery,

60. Each flaw and defect, failings beyond count.
When gales excite its waters to great frenzy,

61. In its confounding vortexes boats are flung.
Dizzying in its convulsions, we are hurled,

62. Whelmed in its flood, no speck of land emerges.
Waves heaving in a gloom of whale-like monsters,

63. Seismic shudders into yawning deeps.
While the Euphrates in its calm has reasons

64. For pardoning, with hazards piled atop.
You'll never see it shake the land convulsive

65. Beyond what mighty winds and powers compel.
If a fearsome wave rises, the shore provides

66. Shelter where flood and storm are meaningless.
It disgorges what it swallowed, unlike seas

67. That suck ships down and instantly ensnare.
It makes excuses for those nearly drowned

68. Till rescued by some gracious blessing sent.
Thus kindly waves restore to joyful throngs

69. Those stranded when calamity descends.
Ships wrecked are turned to planks, each signifying

70. Some group or other plunged mid-voyage to doom.
You've wearied me with fears of travel's dangers,

71. Especially when waters rise like giants.
And monsters of the deep attack the land's

72. Fair regions - harm reaching even hermits' caves.
As if true courage was to drown at sea,

73. Or sink in rapids, lost without a trace!
This your command, while my allotted burden

74. Is wisdom and advice for people's needs.
Reassure and raise me! Make my payment bounty,

75. And tireless be in growing benefits.
Let your munificence continue perfect,

76. Flawless in its grace, envious reproach beyond.
On me the horrors of the journey weigh,

77. Bleak winter, piercing winds and gloomy clouds.
Especially when the sea rose in its fury,

78. And the gales blustered, blew the sky to flame.
Until a pall of dust engulfed the land,

79. Harming even hermits in their distant caves.
As if praise only comes by drowning in the sea

80. Or vanishing in rapids - what absurdity!
By my life, if I'm arraigned for accepting gifts,

81. Surely you have judged with reckoning unjust!
I know your sympathy presumes you now

82. My judge and writer, rising o'er all else.
Spare me your writer's sentence! It is still

83. The verse's foe, with nothing held in common.
Else would the wisest sages not proclaim

84. Highest ranked, Ghassan's potent king of lore.
Certainly, more blessings have been heaped

85. By Amr's father, never causing harm.
Nothing hurts more than severance; it strikes

86. Between loved ones a lashing with two whips.
Due to severance his prudent words proclaimed,

87. Gently chiding, O Ameemeh, unrequited lover.
You refused customary grace to pardon

88. And dismiss defects, a filtering required.
Nay, glory spurns all but your noble self,

89. Raising you above the cited and the judge.
Have patience - 'tis expected you sustain

90. The full weight - though the stalwarts find it taxing.
No wonder men disdain the weary striving

91. Of one who toys in comfort and blithe dalliance.
For one who leads must prove himself unmatched

92. In aiding lowliest ranks in time of sport and play.
He who ascends the stairs of glory still,

93. Attains the utmost rungs o'er pedestrian heads.
You see me labor using all my wits

94. To shine your name in verse and avoid trouble.
I've granted you poetic gifts, as though

95. Each phrase were a fair maiden's neck embrace.
Refinement manifest, each line inlaid

96. With pearl, or cleavages of shapely waists.
If you allow, for you they are most fit,

97. Else I'll abstain, untroubled and unleashing.
Should any ask about you in reproach,

98. I will confess I was ungrateful, blameworthy;
Say you invited me to bask in plenty,

99. And you withheld it not, you showered me instead.
No barriers or veils obscured your gifts,

100. But turning to my craft, I went away.
So rightly you bestowed, I was unjust,

101. Still fixed upon the path of glory's light.
How miserable if my robe's hem trails

102. In a misguidance charged to me, the faithless!
You are the noble soul whose nature marks

103. True freemen, by no grasping talons marred.
Not one whose words betray a robbed man's darkness

104. And the tyranny of one who steals by force.
Impugning honor of worthy men, though innocent,

105. Transgressing against repute like slavering dogs.
Only to then decry all people in verse, penned as

106. The plaint of one despoiled, a bandit's accusation.
My fate be not arraigned for accepting gifts,

107. When I proved craven - courage was not my making.
Demand of stalwarts daring for the fray,

108. Those titled warriors, donning armor's weight.
I have not walked the field, but lofty tents

109. Dot its span, my spirit failed at heralds' martial call.
As for a man of wisdom and eloquence,

110. Demand he guide aright when fixed with questions.
Confirm me, elevate me, magnify my reward,

111. Continue steadfast in your kindly graces.
Let your munificence, preserved intact,

112. Reach me without the flaws the critic cites.
And so no gossips say he recompensed

113. Then punished him, their loose words sharply stabbing.
Your noble ways require you overlook

114. Transgressions - be your bounty free in full.
Your gifts give hope and lavish life again,

115. Vanquish the bitterest of calamities.
They outweigh mere wealth; hopes of your petitioners,

116. Lavishing on suspect ambitions of the crowd.
I wished your bounty's measure be no less,

117. That you in cheerful mood be undiminished.
Lest wagging tongues say you rewarded, then,

118. Withheld your gifts - of all vile deeds the worst.
Your noble ways require I keep far from

119. Such gross ingratitude - do give your favors.
Increase your bounty, O pillar of renown,

120. Cement our pact with giving free and open.
God's pleasure crowns those noble attributes,

121. Wealth and delight abounding - joy to them!
Were I emboldened by your helping hand

122. To face the strangest woes and darkness lifted,
I would praise your timely rescue of one lost,

123. Like lightning's smile, friendly once distant and dim.
In appealing to your noble ways lie traces

124. Of shining blades, gleaming wells, and flames enfolded.
I've clothed myself in brilliant verse, yet fear no assault,

125. Too coarse to feel the touch of piercing shafts.
No wonder generosity attends me

126. Though absent, for I sing your praise in place and time.
The reins I hold are not a ship's, and my due right

127. Not what the sailor claims amidst the squalls.
Yet people are alert to worth, as eagles

128. Circling their prey, ever ready to defend.
Saving those who stumble in misfortune's depths,

129. Ensnared in grief and the untangling of life's knots.
To God I make my plaint of gloom unending,

130. No dawn relieves its shroud or lifts its veil.
With bitter brine stuck in my throat beyond relief,

131. Neither palatable nor easy to spit out.