1. My friend, turn away today and wait for me,
For passion and anxiety are pervasive and obstinate.

2. She is the sun approaching me closely though she is far,
I see the sun though I cannot reach it and it sees me.

3. After nearness, her abode became far and changed for us,
In turn, as time brings constant change.

4. Passion and yearning stirred in me memories of
Slender swaying palm trees of heavy clusters.

5. Suns and moons when their clothes are folded back
Over the withers of smooth-gaited she-camels.

6. The siesta is the bending of bones that seem to be
The bellowing of ewe lambs from the Qitani sheep.

7. Dazzling radiance of the brilliant one, a torrent
Rushing down over which a vigilant watcher keeps guard.

8. And below it a lofty smooth ascent built
Of steps and terraces, adjoining companions.

9. My friend, do not blame a man for being like himself
If she meets him and he recoils and leaves me.

10. She captivated me with a supple neck that was not limp
And a soft skin on which pearls and gems were strung.

11. And sorrel dye whose gloss was as though
It was polished by the combs of handmaidens.

12. I was fated that I would never attain her
Though passion and rejection are at variance.

13. So I comforted a heart that had inclined to youth
And reckoned, while my eyes kept watch.

14. With four, though my cloak and mount were superior,
As the western rain poured down in torrents.

15. My friend, absolve me of blame, I am true
To the pact, no traitor or procrastinator.

16. My people will know I was a bastion of honor
If the caller to death calls me.

17. Would that the happy at my death might come
Or another might eulogize me and weep!

18. I regret insulting the clan, after
An Iraqi and a Yemeni sang their praises.

19. I turned my back on them, would that I
Had forgiven with graciousness of hand and tongue!

20. O sons of Wahb, we know full well
You are rough-tongued and quarrelsome louts.

21. I forbade your brother from satirizing me, and a
Full year, nay two, have passed since then.

22. They obliged, and obliged me, men I saw
Who when they contended disliked my company.

23. Yet I was a man who disdained wrongs, because
I was audacious when grave matters roused me.

24. I am daring and audacious, I say not to the retreater
“Come!” when he attacks me and defies me.

25. My friend, had I been a man defective in himself
Or my steps slipped, I would have wavered.

26. But I live despising the hatred of foes
And attain what I love in spite of enmity.

27. I am resolute, determined when my mettle calls
I restrain myself though my reins are slack.

28. My friend, how many a slanderer have I repelled
With a famed ode, though he slandered me!

29. He was left like a menstruating woman whose water
Was not retained nor was she purified in time.

30. I exulted before enemies when there appeared
To them in me piercing harm of terrible flames.

31. So they shunned my arena like one who shuns in fear
The insult of the living, his steps halted.

32. When taken unawares, his eyes resemble
Two lamps in a dark niche burning.

33. His arms and the hollow of his neck seem
Dyed with henna, soft, not timid.

34. A collection of burrs, gathering together the horn in his fist
To the bare shoulder, smooth-skinned.

35. Fleshy of cheek, a pink that is as though
Its heights are daubed with paint.

36. The hue of the two arms is doubled, dark
Like the gloom of darkness, though brave.

37. My Abu Khalid, my mare yearned for you
From afar, across fearful wastes.

38. Her two forelegs when she flexes them
Appear like an expert swimmer plunging in water.

39. If I pasture her on an expedition or send her forth,
She returns to me snorting, her braids swinging.

40. A beauty like a Phoenician, as though
Two fish were splashing on either side of her head.

41. My Abu Khalid, in the land are remoteness and open space
For one who is cast with pearls and topazes.

42. How can a free man sleep at night whose gifts
Are three hundred for the year’s beginning or two hundred?

43. My horses carried me after I enriched the intimate friends
To a king abundant in gift-giving, glorious.

44. You see people in throngs frequenting his door
In early morning seeking needs or help.