1. Your phantom once allured me,
Accustomed to my night visit and my mounts.

2. But now naught allures save misfortune,
And from aloofness comes the visit of estrangement.

3. We came to greet what remains of a ruined abode,
Its landmarks renewed by the One of steadfastness.

4. He fulfilled the pact to me from his knowledge,
Until he almost returned the answer to my yearning.

5. The women blamed us, saying you prohibited us,
We persist in spinning though you refuse the spindle.

6. The turns of fate go on cheating me,
Until I pledged against old age my youth.

7. Is it my soul’s luck that I diminished it, or have I
Against my soul, turned my luck into misfortune?

8. And you blamed me when puberty overtook me,
Reaching David undefiled in the sanctuary.

9. Tormented by love, I said as he sent forth
His eyes and abundant tears flowed in streams.

10. Had you preferred one of tender age for herself,
You would have left me for what defects I have.

11. Who will inform me of the son of the schemer and the tumult?
You set out the rear of the army with its banners.

12. Wrathful, the facts of his sword are revealed
By the stirring-up in iron of his burning anger.

13. A breach whose supporters are absent, and his foes
Are present, and today is the day of defeat.

14. The edge of the sword pains not the chest of the brave youth
Nor the chest of the swordsman with its point.

15. If only he had sought safety for himself,
He would have found safety easy to obtain.

16. If only his horses had brought him success,
Thousands slain would lie there, stripped of their weapons.

17. Verily, the mourner cannot defeat his foe
Until he himself is mourned by his comrades.

18. Your brow was set against the swords, watchfully,
Drawing upon you the nobility of warriors.

19. And you refused to give the lowly ones before them,
Truly the high-minded disdains to be censured.

20. And the stages of encampment were conspicuous, which he named,
While the steeds stomped in the dusty barren land.

21. It was by your face, not your honor, when they saw
That faces are preserved by reputations.

22. And even if you are captured, what capture is there of a man
Who aided capture over fleeing with shame?

23. If other than you, he would be one who diminishes strength
From what has passed with you in straits of trial.

24. The deceived one slept from guarding you and did not fear
The wakefulness of the guard and the rigor of gatekeepers;

25. And he saw that the gate was your intended way
Which is feared while your fancy was other than the gate.

26. So you climbed it fearfully, when will you inform
The coward, you came not wisely?

27. They were not on guard save for your penetration,
Like the piercing cold of a pouring flood.

28. Defending a timid, wild-stepping she-camel,
Joining glances fearing the searchers;

29. She startles at desolation but is comforted to see
A moon bending with a swaying howdah.

30. It witnessed him the day of India and was not
To sell him today in the cycles of time.

31. And it saw the executioner of a beloved who was never
Shamed by him in days of companionship.

32. The day of dew was guaranteed by your valor
Until you added to it the day of striking.

33. A mention of might you borrowed for the one
To whom you were given in morals and manners.

34. And new material for poems additionally
In what you have sought of elaboration.

35. And a duty you delicately began,
Without you it would not be written by the scribes.