1. Who is this caravan, O son of Al-Amiri, ahead of me?
Are they the secret of dawn in the conscience of darkness?

2. My longing heart bids them farewell, and perhaps
It leads them to what has saddened it by the bridle.

3. My good fortune was stingy, so neither the specter came by at night,
Nor is my greeting brought back to me.

4. You glance at them slyly with your fluttering eyes,
Robbing the full moon of its beauty and form.

5. How much thirst is in my heart for you -
I quench it with sips from behind the veil.

6. Yet I have not tasted your mouth, though I repeat
Tales spread by the branches of Basham.

7. Passion intervened between us, so I lead
My breaths to it while it remains.

8. It left me the awakening of sorrows, stirred
By the cooing of a dove or the crying of clouds.

9. I yearn for the days at Aqeeq, when
Four dwellings bent me with the bridle of my mount.

10. Can I forget that fresh life, as if
It borrowed greenness in the prime of youth?

11. In a land where gardens in its folds
Drag the train of the headband above the dunes.

12. When its perfumed locks are uncovered by the wind,
It leaves a trace in the stirrups of swords.

13. The knights slept around it as if
It passed the cup of wine amongst the lamps.

14. We outdistanced the suspicion of time in it,
Though our ears were stung by blame.

15. Of my meadows, when passion leads me there,
I alight even if the censurers disapprove.

16. The days continue to entice our purpose
And drag the train of my mantle and lance.

17. I see it jealous over my good fortune as if
It has what we have of infatuation and love.

18. Oh, if only when she pulls me into her company
She would leave her passion or I would fall ill!

19. By the glory of the Umayyad dynasty,
Fate has barred all my hopes.

20. As for the vices of people, there is leeway for him
Whose nature needs no glory but generosity.

21. I will clothe the night in mail whose morning gleams,
Flowing with the scent that permeates its folds,

22. Onto a vast plain the darkness has departed from,
After the guide's arrows have disappeared.

23. My carriers of needs unload their luggage
At the glorious, expansive threshold of the noble one.

24. I spur my dogs against him reverently
So eyes avert as they approach.

25. Among the people, glory's flint did not spark for anyone
In pride unless they lit it with steel.

26. And highest among them in scarce glory
Is the brother of blessings, mighty in body,

27. Veiled on both sides of the corridor with spears
When the two horses clothe it in the shade of darkness,

28. And they do not stumble except on the corpses of boys
Who satisfy the watcher's craving.

29. From his pens and swords we glimpse
The stirrings of life in the swaying of a dove.

30. And his glance informs the desires of souls
As secrets pour forth from every seal.

31. His palms gush with gain and bounty
Like the flowing of two springs' confluence.

32. With wisdom, when perils arise for him,
He repels them with a languid, decisive blow.

33. And a nature like a sick north wind's gust
Upon the garden's flowers with failed sprinkles of rain.

34. And honor like the gleaming Indian scabbard -
Glories shy from it and take cover.

35. The burnished margins are the theater of his praise -
Spacious, with none settled in it.

36. So glory to God, whose brilliance has outshone the stars,
Elevating you to the highest summit.

37. And through you hopes were realized after their loss
Among a people asleep, not tending to them.

38. Because of you, the thoughts that were dispersed
Have stripped coral beads of all their stringing.

39. You walk thankfully with hidden remembrance, praised,
As my fervent tongue converses with me.

40. The kings of earth desire to be praised through it,
Yet not every ear is pleased with my speech.

41. Don't they know I have taken a position
That relaxes atop the two streams, my tent?

42. I used to refuse to be content though my echo was pure
Other than a freshwater spring or cloudy sky.

43. And when the intentions settled in you through us
And the dwellings honored us, I pitched my tent pegs.