1. As if the nights sought me with the nights,
For they are long, with lengthy tales,

2. They try to take from me what is past of my joy,
From the bare, bygone first times,

3. Yet they are short, brief, rather
They try revenge with the brief, little ones.

4. Unless they fell short of my path, in my hand,
Despite their weakness, is what is in the hand of the son of Muqatil.

5. If I say I did it this evening, it is as if
I came to the one who comes and am not a doer.

6. The weapon of the nights is every white healthful one
Pulling him, not every brown fading one.

7. O Abu Ahmad, time diminished and diverted him
To you with this sedentary obese one.

8. So be an obstacle between time and him,
For his thanks after time are not with an obstacle.

9. And do not deprive him of honoring his rank from you,
For not every visited one is a gift of a miser.