1. What affliction does the soul discern today in the birds;
Is it the separation of the raven or the roaming of the goat?

2. Sitting among a group who have lost hope,
Of the reversal of fate and the return of old companions.

3. With a king, if asked for wealth, he delays and jokes.
If your Lord relieves us of this distress and makes space,

4. Or if we are a people destroyed, with no hope left for the living, O my people,
The stirred up days will surely return at nightfall to fill the cups.

5. We are but a corrupted thing; if Allah reforms it, it will be reformed.
How many people we’ve seen perish,

6. And we’ve seen a man live long with no purpose.
With horizons from which taxes are collected,

7. All between Oman and the salt flats.
And Heraclius the day he defeated Dametas

8. Among the sons of Burjān was superior in battle.
He inherited command from his forefathers

9. And raided them as a young man not yet married.
At dawn they celebrated a horseman

10. With a thick nose and a wide forehead.
Then they did not flinch but offered

11. A charging ram when it engages in butting.
They perished with effective blows

12. That filled the earth with carcasses and blood.
As if the death they met at dawn

13. Made the fugitives flee in panic at first light.
Or is it about the covenant? Let me know that

14. It is better to free wealth and livestock to graze.
And when one of them bears a burden

15. His limbs complain and he sighs.
The one with strength carries the weight, so when

16. His master ignores him, he is forgiving.
He defends the distressed from

17. The hands of the people when the criminal offends.
You buy praise at the highest price,

18. Though to earn praise is the cheapest profit.
Glory captivates me, and I exceed limits,

19. And your fire, it seems, is fueled by kindling.
Or as they said, "He is ill." But if

20. The sickness leaves him and he recovers,
He will surely return the stirred up days

21. At nightfall to fill the cups.
Like days we recognize

22. When every scoundrel barked at the people.
He is first into battle when

23. The moment of grit comes, and the canines show.
What fire of battle did he not ignite

24. With ample fuel, so it blazed and sparked?
I surely steadied my rope, supported

25. By the noble when calamities converged.
It cuts through the saddlecloth when it bolts

26. With a start, bolt, rear and leap.
It makes the earth tremble, a glowing ember,

27. So if it meets a boulder, it strikes and crashes.
The blow of its hooves

28. With a ringing sound, a voice most excellent.
A gallop you’d think when it pulls up

29. Was the gush of blood from a slaughtered beast.
Like aromatic musk whose scent,

30. When poured by the cupbearer, intoxicates.
From a tavern in an alley

31. Snug and sultry, with vivacity,
With depth. It cares not on its day

32. When ladled from it into cups.
When the wind churns its surface

33. The foam atop subsides and clears.
When you jostle it and it hits

34. The sides, it churns within and swirls.
It crashes with ornamented glassware

35. While the drippings drain off.
When it foams, we raise our vessels—

36. The necks flowed freely as it poured.
We guide its torrent on course

37. As it flows from the wind at our behest.
You’d think the vessel propped

38. Against it was an Abyssinian asleep on his stomach.
I’ve arrived at its regrets in the morning

39. And in the morning it has arrived full of cheer.
With a singing girl, whenever she’s told

40. “Listen and sing,” she sang with a clear sound.
She folds her wrist against the frets

41. Joining voice to strings in a resonating tone.
In their youth like lamps in the dusk

42. Fortune and joy are manifest among them.
Merriment sways in their gathering

43. Whenever some scoundrel barks at the people.
They are not stingy with wealth, and since

44. They were not hardened by life, they mingle freely.
You see them taking pleasure in the drink, all of them,

45. As if the advice of the preachers profited them.
Between one faint from passion whose cheek

46. And one impotent of leg without splint.
And buxom bodies, soft

47. Delicate from indulgence, not made firm.
Like statues clad in robes

48. Not covering the bellies of the emaciated.
They burst from necklaces when

49. The afflicted rise gaunt and stumbling.
That was an era for people now gone,

50. And for these people an era has emerged.
I show favor to those I opposed,

51. All that severs the ties of rancor.
I severed his gaze openly

52. With a slap unlike any blow or punch,
From an overpowering tyrant whose branding

53. Reminds the offender of his crimes.
You see my enemies around me, humbled,

54. With necks bowed like camels for slaughter.
The villain built his house upon them

55. And corruption spread among them.
They are black dwarves whose endeavor

56. Is like pebbles with sparks from flint.
The lowliest strikes their faces

57. And cares not which eye is blinded.