1. They robbed me of my patience when they appeared
Like moons with rising signs as collars.

2. If they left me pining, my innermost being
Travels with their mounts wherever they wandered.

3. Their covenant nurtured sorrow - a covenant of clouds
Contesting it a downpour of tears in torrents.

4. Will our loved ones in that covenant return?
Will I find solace in you until the end of time?

5. I have a weeping eye, and between my ribs
A heart yearning to meet you until the end of time.

6. The world was altered for us after you left,
And dire straits closed in around us on all sides.

7. It anchored us in the land of doubts and fears
With phantom suspicions - and suspicions deceive.

8. We saw lightning flashes of promised trysts that wearied
Our eyes for ages, yet not once drew near.

9. So we marched on though the goal seemed impossible,
When a homeland disowned you as its denizens.

10. We had no provision except what little pools
Of youth provided, grasped by lids and lashes.

11. We left it forlorn, having ceded it to others -
Its water unpalatable, its meadows a waste.

12. To a sovereign endowed with glory like Joseph,
And exalted by Solomon's sublime edifice,

13. To one aided by God, given victory -
For him allies and destiny itself provide succor.

14. Yet we dried up, though innocent, as if affection
Turned from us, transformed into revilement and hate.

15. Had we given nothing but poetry alone,
We'd have merited kindness and grace from you.

16. How then, when we never made verse our livelihood,
Does it warrant your coldness and deprivation?

17. Nor were we among those who hold verse their calling -
Though the best of us fell short within its realm.

18. Let him who imagines otherwise evaluate
His assumptions - the arena lies open for discourse.

19. My friend, who would fault an era
Once fate has decreed against it tyranny and wrong?

20. Was a wailing eye ever seen that did not overflow
With tears, burning hot, though its owner stayed silent?

21. Did a glance seeking glory fail to have
A weeping eye, be it of Hud's folk or humankind?

22. Whenever the world turned away, the visage of Hud's son
Was the shining face of favor, a sign for mortals.

23. The moon of glory in his coolness is a full moon,
An ocean, sanctuary of the mountain ranges and meadows,

24. Among intrepid heroes whose palms as ample
Succor as clouds - though yearning burns like fire within.

25. Heroes who in the fray remained as lions
With the snake of sorcery in their right hands.

26. Has any ruler exalted them more loftily
Or entrusted them with meeting God through faith?

27. There is no pride in the world but theirs -
Else, pride is deception and illusion.

28. O You who seek and receive aid, You whose
Homeland's counsel one day will be an era's counsel!

29. My compositions clothed You in laurels of pride
With which the noble and splendid adorn their necks.

30. If they fall short of what befits You, still they may
Sit alongside pearls in harmony and coral.

31. Themes that mimicked the throaty croaking of frogs,
As if, through them, I were a lover or Greek monk.

32. If Your palm plants the sapling of noble deeds
In my land, it will bear for You thick branches.