1. At al-Aqiq when its dwellings brought to mind,
A passion that increases the youth’s resolve,

2. And an affection, if it clung to the heart, would not
Leave the enamored any way to restrain it,

3. A tribe whose traces have been erased until no
Sequence of encampments remains among its ruins,

4. They spent the night while the lightning flashed, illuminating it
And revealing the burdens of its clouds,

5. So the land is clothed in the garments of vegetation
And the meadows in its blossoms.

6. Time passes and I have not lived out my youth
Or the beauty of adolescence and its glory.

7. A night at Thalh whose extremities
Are more enticing to the ardent lover than its dawns,

8. And for your phantom the darkness of its night
Is more precious than the illumination of its day.

9. Thought avoids baseness, though sometimes
It reaches visitation at the death site of the loved one.

10. By the towering mounts of Sifa I swore
On its plateau, and the house amidst its veil,

11. Al-Khadir in the semblance of misfortunes, his view
Is like the sword amidst the crashing din and its sparks.

12. If a disaster from time afflicts you
Then mourn its springtime, the son of Nizar.

13. Who do we hope for actions like his?
Or who do we prepare for the plunge into its swell?

14. One who is hoped for so wealth returns
And the neighbor is sought for refuge.

15. One is wealthy, increasing in his riches,
While another is destitute, exceeding in his poverty,

16. And one granted glory, his attainments
Are abundant, beyond his peers.

17. The enemy’s agent is enough, from his view,
To carry out, or a coal from his fire,

18. Events are revealed as if approving
The soundness of his opinion and dignity.

19. Do not heed one who exaggerates his relationship, for if
The Euphrates flowed with him, it would diminish in its plenty.

20. He attributed his works to me though no
Vestige appears to me of his traces.

21. A sea—if the Bani Rabīʿ approached arrogant,
It would not fear the assault of its currents.

22. And if the virgins vied—they would begin
With its summit and massive eruption.

23. Its side adjoins the dwellings of Banū Riqqāʿid, for it
Is the lion of the lair, they visit it in its sanctuary.

24. The Banū Masʿūd ibn Dalham—they
Picked the fruits of glory from its far reaches.

25. Their enviers hope for sufficiency after
The stars of night are obscured by its moons.

26. I was told that Abu l-Muʿammar increased
Vengeance for them the evening its seeker came demanding blood vengeance.

27. They pursued ʿAbdallāh, the quintessence of Aḥmad,
And the she-camels bellow as the stallions are stirred to mate.

28. Why is your father’s grave in their abode
Shut, while their father’s grave is in his?

29. Why have you not rescued its parapets while your number
Still had solidity, before weakness lessened it?