1. I contemplated mankind generation after generation
Yet most of them seemed few to me

2. With beautiful faces but no wisdom
And strong bodies yet no minds

3. I see an inactive sage whose wisdom is fading
And a scholar complaining of ignorance

4. If you wish to find an enemy among them
Take one as an intimate friend

5. And if you prefer their company be prepared
For harm that will last long

6. And if you extend to them the ropes of affection
Turn away beautifully from them

7. Whether you deceive them or be harsh
And tread heavily upon their feelings

8. Either you will defeat them honorably
Or manage them miserably

9. Whoever's bed is too soft for him
In a house where the miserable makes little noise

10. I am neither disgraced nor from me
So dress him in humility and armor him in submission

11. When the Umayyad brings someone undignified
And couples an Indian with a well-groomed Persian

12. Leave him and the drinking for you will be brought
A feared king or a killed one

13. And the one with expectant eyes for her riding camels
Takes the Sumar as companions

14. I think her resting place is uncomfortable so
She is thirsty and has not drunk any water

15. And I deter her followers when
Her caravan passes through the valley

16. And I make her taste war and conflict
So she drags her tails from the meadow

17. And stumbles over the bodies of prey
Then is startled seeing them as palm trees

18. Where the eagle cannot find except
The eternal wolf that has a meal

19. And she passes through a low place of stabbing
And a valley that robs the sluggish hero

20. As if the sun poured on my horses
The gleam of yellow orris when it rose as a stallion

21. And my sword people fear it until
It leaves its sheath before the appointed time

22. With it after God I have reached such distinction
That eyes glance at it only a little

23. And my ambitions roamed high
Then were satisfied with thriving on little

24. So I have not praised a generous one for his generosity
Nor blamed a stingy one for his stinginess

25. My honours whoever is fair and white-faced among the Abshem
The girls count him as a tribe

26. As for my forefathers their fortresses are swords
With which they slashed the expanses and plains

27. And God’s support for the religion pleased them
When their cousin was sent as a messenger

28. And they are caves that shone among the Nizar
While their descendants after them were fools

29. Whenever the tribes boasted vainly
With tongues they shake with them tent pegs

30. Then we will be the longest branches
If they are attributed and roots most generous