1. Your turning away though moderation might heal
An ill that returns now my hair shows its gray,

2. Was once, I thought, but interpreting my love,
Like a Beduin's tent he packs up and makes off.

3. So she whose love but increased her sickness
Would show affection though parted from her dear.

4. A man whom anxiety kept by his bed
Tossed and turned there in the watches of night.

5. I charge the wise, if age should draw near,
With the counsel of one who's known fate and has erred,

6. Seek not love from one grown remote,
Nor spurn one still hostile should he draw near.

7. For he is close who makes himself close,
By your life, not he who boasts of blood ties.

8. When a man is estranged from his clan,
Save by pretense, none there knows his plight,

9. Among a people where love is not known
Nor long lineage, save by false claim.

10. Since my people left, I've seemed to see
In them one wronged, seeking his due, distraught.

11. A man called his clan to defend him,
I called a folk armed with long spears, aloof.

12. They agreed to do me injustice,
Yet I was no weakling before that disgrace.

13. By the Lord of the vale, had I cried out,
A generous man would have come, angry, head held high.

14. I see among you one, sword in hand,
As if he folds his palms oozing blood.

15. He has no ancient glory, no grace,
No favoring wind, south or east or west.

16. By your Lord I swear, for all you've charged me,
He'll know who tomorrow lies abject, outcast!

17. Like ox and jinni that beats its back
Though it's done no wrong, and the water it lets pass.

18. It's done no wrong the water let pass,
The water let pass lest the blows come down!

19. If I shun you, making peace with your foe,
Giving him nothing but feud and partedness,

20. And if I draw near, no amulet to be seen,
That skins amongst you show pierced all over,

21. My hound will bark himself hoarse behind you
As I make my people needless of you for food.

22. I hold back from your honor, and lend you
A tongue like a blacksmith's pair of snips.

23. There you cannot reward me as you ought,
But God will reward me, requiting your deed.

24. I praise you behind your backs, and truly
When loyalty becomes partisan, I shall be

25. A man of your number, sharing your fate,
Not seen by your foes paired with weakness.

26. I see myself and Amr, between us but
The strike of a flint, and soon blood will spill.

27. Each pretending he is not in the wrong,
So I check my rage, or he does, that day.

28. He who trusts informers leaves not one friend,
Even if the dear one before was so close.

29. When the she-camels drew my dark night,
I held fast and did not pardon my foe a lapse,

30. As the Roman seeks the notch of his lock
If his key misses the hole, thwarting access.

31. What think you then of the lion guarding his den,
Who drives the lions off from the lands they roam,

32. Hiding death-dealing irons as he walks,
To draw them out when the day of trial comes?

33. He takes the foremost place of the herd, when he sallies,
And the herd cannot be without him.

34. I surpassed you though not yet my hair turned gray,
Yet you made me taste the poetry of an old man brought low!

35. A people who do not know love between them,
Nor long lineage, save by false boasts.

36. Since my people left, I have seemed to see
Among them one wronged, seeking justice, distraught.

37. A man called on his people to defend him,
While I called on a folk armed with long spears, absent.

38. They agreed to oppress me unjustly
Though I was no weakling before that disgrace.

39. By the Lord of the valley, had I cried out
A generous man would have come, head raised angrily.

40. I see among you one with a sword in his hand
As though folding bloodied palms as he walks.

41. He has no ancient glory or grace,
No favoring wind, south or east or west wind.

42. By your Lord I swear, despite all you accused me,
He will know tomorrow who is outcast and wretched!