1. The vicissitudes of fate, which of them are fated
By my will or which of them are fortuitous

2. I was afflicted by praising the misers as if I
Among the generous with poetry was miserly

3. And I had hoped for good from a recipient
Like a seeker of communion with one who won't reciprocate

4. He fell short of generosity and his manners
Remain constantly failing

5. And how can a hand busy
With its own interests attain glory from glory's pursuit

6. So I continued to send after what was between us
To Tayy a harbinger of ill that I was saying

7. They stole my gaze yet I came praising
Them though some praise is falsehood and invalid

8. Braves from beneath armor as if they
When mounting mares were pregnant women

9. And I do not approve in satire my clan
With anything but to not violate what is sacrosanct

10. The ransom of the ancient ones is my soul for they
Are ancestrally noble, kind and virtuous

11. Abiding at the formidable border, spurred on
By ancestral traditions to thrust and charge

12. When their hands join in battle
The least of what they fold over are the tribes

13. And the land of mountains had become rich so there was not seen
In it except them and piercing blades

14. If I wanted to keep guard over Hibatun
To the west side is my unrivaled hero

15. And what man fears enemies when his defense is
The shield of Ibn 'Amr and spears that pierce