1. Your patron spared you, O son of the doorkeeper,
Where can one who flees from me escape?

2. After you broke your oath to us,
You fled while the doorkeeper apologized.

3. O dweller in his house just yesterday,
The torn garment cannot be mended, O dweller!

4. How strange was your state back then,
When we were the repeller and he the attractor.

5. Indeed, you have shown us blatant hostility,
Causing the whole country to become desolate.

6. Look with the eye of justice, and you will see
That you have strayed from the right path.

7. You made peace with our enemies and fought us,
A most wondrous thing that you have done.

8. You waged war on us when you lent an ear to slander,
While our party was your boon companion.

9. A wicked horde was revered, so they were chosen,
While the reverence for our horde did not stir.

10. The call went out to them, perfectly directed,
While its tip struck its mark among them.

11. War is doomed, for the warrior is watched,
And peace cannot be disturbed by the guardian.

12. Despite this, your morals remain intact,
Uncorrupted even by the zealous partisan.

13. You still are one whose sword does not feed on flesh,
And whose sea does not lack for rain.

14. Alas for the thieves of our time,
Whose claws have not been cut by the avenger!

15. What has emboldened them against us,
When no ruiner of their reign appears?

16. If they do not restrain us likewise,
Poetry is free, even if they walk safely.

17. Rather, I wish I knew, in our past days,
When guesses pierce the absence of the noble youth.

18. Did you say: “You have missed your shots,
The rising star does not meet the setting”?

19. My anxiety, since rude beggars came to you,
Each greedy, rapacious, not content.

20. Do they not meet with you, so you meet
The plunder of orphans who have no breadwinner?

21. Among all the riffraff of rabble are villainous souls
Who consume what no reckoner could calculate.

22. Fortune has turned him this way and that
In both directions he persists.

23. With the stomach of a fox, not feeling sated,
And sometimes the greed of a rabbit.

24. A burning fever of greed shakes him,
But the fever of his digestion is hardened.

25. As if the sacrificial animals are in his grip,
Prey while his cauldron bubbles.

26. And if the onion became a horn for them,
Still the cheek of their onion would peel.

27. I swear if you met them, your canines
Would be worn down by their molars.

28. Rejoice! Swift vengeance is near, I
Am determined to retaliate likewise.

29. Think me not heedless of you,
My return, dear friend, is imminent.

30. I said to my friends when you deceived them:
“Do not grieve, the absent may yet witness.”

31. God will grant us victory tomorrow,
If today our lot is loss.

32. Attack the Shaykh with importunity,
With steely resolve like the piercing star.

33. Though a party has distanced you from him,
Let not that party escape you.

34. Search the land, investigate,
Until the elusive news comes out.

35. Do not let his runaways escape you,
Unless the grantor grants escape.

36. Do not let his rabble get away,
Neither the blamer nor the delinquent.

37. Be serious, for he has toyed with you,
And a man may jest with the jester.

38. Let the attack be a surprise,
While the prey feels secure in its refuge.

39. I have spoken seriously, addressing
One who may surprise the unprepared.

40. So the people resolved on a raid,
Where horseman aided footman.

41. Abu Uthman directs its vanguard,
May the thrusting striker guide you.

42. Brandishing the banner in his hand,
With spearman and swordsman surrounding.

43. When they meet you, prepare for them
What satisfies the eater and the drinker.

44. Supply your runaways coupled
With your rabble, O Scribe.

45. Those with delicate intelligence,
And those with pallid demeanor.

46. Remember, with a heart not preoccupied,
Which the recollection of towns makes weep,

47. That you are a neighbor of Qutrubbul,
Where you have dairy products and milkers.

48. So pour the milk of bounty for their drinking,
For plunder is not their habit.

49. Present to them the virgin who has not glimpsed
A fire, each suitor eager.

50. Not one courted by the virtuous man,
But one courted by the immoral.

51. One who never slept with a monk
Except to extinguish his lamp, O monk!

52. One who has no peer but molten gold
In her cup, so pliant.

53. Or her mature mother, who since she emerged
Has confused night from her rising.

54. Compare her to the sun, for she was reared
In its embrace, the obvious resemblance.

55. For she is the daughter of bounty, and whenever she appears
None resembles her but the befitting sun.

56. Marvel at that veiled virgin,
Distressed, whom worry wrinkles,

57. Subdued in the world, dispossessed,
With overwhelming triumph stripping away.

58. You see her dragged through alleys,
As she decided the puller would be pulled.

59. Taking vengeance on her seducer,
With none to weep or mourn for her,

60. Except the doves in her sanctuary,
Or a drink-bearer, or a cup-pourer.

61. Of gentle breeze, its musk fragrant,
And of graceful figure, its bloom vivacious.

62. The lasting bliss of her companion,
And the pervasive agony of her abandoner.

63. As if she and the abode smile together,
While the lute throbs in her clutch.

64. An addict dancing in a garden,
Answered by rustling for her.

65. Pour on them fine gifts in abundance,
To fulfill the promise that deceives.

66. Let there be no narrowness or hardship
In what is granted them.

67. For we have not seen desolate pasture
Without a grazing beast dwelling in it.

68. And then bestow on them thereafter
What the sailor and boatman have gained.

69. And repent for the sin that you came for,
For it may be said: the penitent sinner!

70. So they may say when you satisfy them:
“Blessed is the retreating penitent!”

71. And if they hope for more, by their words:
“Successful is this returning absentee!”

72. Make amends with a prosperous day among them,
No reproacher of its like remains.

73. Let it not be a day, once gone,
Whose loss cannot be recovered by the departing.

74. Except as obligatory for them,
Since entertaining them is a duty.

75. Hasten that for them, do not upset them,
Nor burst forth at them, O burster!

76. For the man who disciplines his brothers
Is not their disciplinarian, but well-mannered.

77. You let us down, violating your promise,
So do not strike us with your searing wind.

78. Far be it from you to meet one seeking shelter
While your clouds are thunder, not rain.

79. Or summon then assault them with guidance,
For you, you are the triumphant warrior.

80. That they may recall a pledged covenant
In Ma’rib, even if Ma’rib is flooded.

81. Leave erring unjustly in our matter,
For the exemplary practices have shone bright.

82. Do not feed us your own guarded flesh,
For it is not what the voracious desire.

83. How can people eat the flesh of a man
Whose words are fractures that break?

84. Know that people are of a mold
Whose clay validates the tester.

85. If not for curing people of their natures,
The rotten would reek uncontrolled.

86. And whoever tomorrow equals your glory
Will bear what no carrier could carry.

87. So fight greed with the troops of munificence,
Your clamor will be helped by sobbing.

88. Seek worthless things and precious repute,
For provisions pass while praise remains.

89. This is all in jest, my brother,
For your detractors, you rough and rugged rock.

90. So improve your wealth, for without it
You are a lion, while adversaries snatch cubs.

91. The chosen brotherhood between us
Has no fleck from another to mar it.

92. I swear, and truth deserves supremacy,
If sympathizer meets with troublemaker,

93. That you are of the elite of the elite,
And are not for the fuelwood collector.

94. So enjoy the beauties in a flourishing
And well-protected reign that lacks change.