1. I recalled the pasture lands of Albān, where
We once spent time, shaded by the vigor of youth,

2. With beautiful maidens who, free of all restraints,
Would strike with the arrows of a glance none can ward off.

3. They would roam about the soft roses with their cheeks,
Their wrists’ scorpions inflicting a piercing sting.

4. The sting brought pleasure as sweet as wine
To the innermost depth of my friends, young and old.

5. Surrendering to desire, obeying my whims,
While reckless youth egged me on.

6. Until my eyes saw the hand of old age pulling
Every last hair from my temples by the root.

7. So I was left with an empty heart, devoid
Of love, while hers had long been devoid of me.

8. I spent a night under clouds of worry and grief
That gnawed relentlessly upon my soul,

9. Until my cares were swept completely away
By the emerging crescent moon of ʿUlā’s glory

10. The crescent moon of glorious ʿUlā wears
An amulet around his neck made by his Lord of precious glory.

11. A youth no amount of effort by the able
Could ever have produced his equal.

12. Kaʿb’s verse falls short of his benefit just as Ḥātim’s does,
As do the poems of Jarwal and the eminent poets.