1. How many sand dunes have I traversed
And swaying branches in sweet robes embraced

2. In the land of palms, a summer refuge donned
Woven by winds and checkered tents beyond

3. A love before Zainab left, while hearts yet whole
Of play and palms ‘twixt Zainab and my soul

4. The dwellings refuse to answer, no passion resonates
The day I called on past homes, no reply awaits

5. Can any messenger my greetings bear
A swift south wind or dimming torch flare

6. Or near them, draw the nomad bands astray
Stallions like leaping wild cats at play

7. They watered yearning in those camps, though now
Gone, only memories between heart and brow

8. Our days together were cut short and fleet
Robbed of joy by spy and watcher discreet

9. Green leaves the dawn winds scatter and shake
As a rod stirs leaves until they break

10. Arts of leisure now severed and torn
From sweet song and hoary lessons borne

11. Did I approach death sated and wise
Or lost my youth for the grave's prize

12. Capricious youth I sometimes obey
Yet regret and rebuke hold my way

13. The fool spurns glory and is blind
To allies outside his craven kind

14. Judge not the generosity of men
None give more than those with writer's pen

15. The land brings forth from waste and wild
Growth and fruit, as heaven's blessed child

16. When the noble need virtues extolled
They seek Abu Yaqub's rhymes bold

17. He shares not the crass lowborn's ways
Nor mimics the vulgar's empty praise

18. His zeal and wisdom both shine bright
Lit by his genius and scripture's light

19. Noble sire succeeded noble son
As spear shaft follows spear in one

20. True excellence is not found complete
Unless born of the noble elite

21. A moon amid the youth so fair
To counter the gloomy times and care

22. I grew weary of fate's bitter test
Yet life is the crucible to assess

23. A speech whose truths like lightning crack
And excellence polished without lack

24. The learned find him beyond reproach
Bestowed in plenty all gifts encroach

25. His gifts like tribes multiplied sevenfold
For every tribe that he blessed of old

26. What sorrow to muse on neglect so vain
And merits built for no clear gain

27. Above the masses, sublime and apart
Beyond each rival's deceit and art

28. His brilliance and radiance pure outshone
For his clan first among their own

29. The house of Nobukht has cause to boast
Their steeds surpass all other horses

30. Say they are but artisans in clay
They were first blessed by heaven's rains in play

31. Else their pens would write world history
Rather than wage war's sanguinary fury