1. His body was afflicted with weakness, and soon old age overtook him
Neither dawn nor morning light did shine, but only darkest night

2. Grey hairs caused pain to the longing lover
When his youth and life were still in their prime

3. So my fortress, if your greyness was by fate’s justice
Then to say you’re deserted would be unfair

4. He could not justify those falling tears
Except by strange events and calamities obscure

5. Yet he visits me, shivering with longing
Concealing burning embers within my breast

6. It was not desire that wronged my feelings
But my grey hair and decrepitude were to blame

7. I swear by the days which spare no clinging man
When fate’s blow falls heavy, from its evil hands

8. No land has suffered, where his open hand has poured
Bounty, restraining the rain from falling there

9. When he drew near Iraq, its seas swelled high
And its farmlands were richly inundated

10. Over Hejaz spread a rain cloud
With neither fifth nor tenth left unattended

11. From his bounty and generous showers
No horizon in the land remained dry or barren

12. He brought relief to Mecca’s pilgrims when aid
Could be hoped from neither kinsman nor stranger

13. Truly I witnessed that, yet all reward
Falls short of the merit of your great work

14. When we reached the barren valley, its green
Had withered; neither nomad nor settler remained

15. The hopes of the refugees were reduced to naught
Safe from neither poverty nor life’s disasters

16. Where rain is blamed though downpours are plenty
The world seems too narrow and ocean too confined

17. Where hopes are seen wandering in wishes
While no meadows host them, no flowers abound

18. With a king who found glory and wealth through giving
Not through hoarding and amassing fortune and gold

19. Chief of the Caliphs from Hashim’s line
When crises arise, the borders and frontiers in alarm

20. Your hands support all who cannot manage alone
And heal all wounds that have resisted remedies

21. You are the unshakable mountain acknowledged
By the chiefs of Nizar though coerced and defeated

22. Whenever their violence crosses the line
Your virtues for which renown bows down, break it

23. I swear by the night travellers who partitioned
The darkness’ journey on restless, pacing steeds

24. Over smooth camels, tough as leather strips
Whose grunting mixed with the sands and wilderness

25. Through every perilous, uncharted route
Of endless wandering where dust alone gave guidance

26. Until around the Ancient House they circled
After the circumambulation - the Stone, and the Wall

27. Were matters up to others beside Hashim’s kin
None would possess authority but you

28. Through you the pillars of Wael bowed down
As hearing and tradition obeyed you alone

29. If Bakr and Taghlib were brought back to life
They could not match the glory that is yours, O Green

30. No man aspiring to rise to your heights
But stalled and withdrew before your brilliance

31. Dazzled by the radiance of your glory
Brighter than stars when they shine white

32. When thoughts turn to you, it becomes clear
No mind can comprehend your virtues fully

33. How can poetry capture this? Verse draws
Meaning from thought, through speech poetry speaks