1. The star sends its gaze far,
And the night spreads its shady branches.

2. The specter is guided by its delusions
To a planet that has fled the horizon in haste.

3. It folded to the soft dunes, leaning on the evening,
Taking a path that dims the sunset’s radiance.

4. And without what the gloomy darkness dispatched
They cast their anchors among the tents and dwellings.

5.
Of those who attained, and nomads in their refuge,

6. Or the family of Nasr ibn Wahb, or the sons of Naji.
A Yemeni people, though the abode leans over a valley,

7. I have not been inclined by fate to roam or settle.

8. Chance flung them to a group sealed off by ravines
Whose outskirts were shut off into separate hordes.

9. So they seethed with a passion kindled like fire
With wild souls inflamed by anxiety’s fever.

10. When reminiscing allures me, her visions
Make me return to my fervent yearnings.

11. The slit of her cloak and the folds of her heart orient
Like the bracelets of a fawn, tinkling and bright.

12. She seemed a sand hill wrapped in
The swaying of hips, bending and straight.

13. Her eyes complain in a voice that mourns
For a lover lost, intensely aggrieved.

14. So I said to the caravan, and the guide assisting it
With his song, both their voices plaintive:

15. “Are these smiling faces that bring us no coolness,
Or lightning flashes between the craggy cliffs?”

16. The motion of travel distracted them from their cloaks,
Tossing them like the mane of a prancing steed.

17. And they all complain of the hidden pain
Between chest and ribs, unabated and raw.

18. A refugee whose wealth was torn, scattered
Among those in ragged attire, fine silk now filthy rags.

19. When awake, a new ardor makes him clasp
A lean arm in the sleeves, clutching tight.

20. Embittered by days with no respite,
Wandering with no shelter found in them.

21. O Saad, with your banner unfurled, nothing
Of yours clings to the fringes of a Zand’s robe.

22. Fate turned away from its sons in disdain
And the Arabs tread on the heels of non-Arabs.

23. The fruits ripened, but the picker has slept,
So who will add to them, or reap and stack?

24. How we rushed to it with kings, but it gained not
The finest stallion for the gloomy night.

25. And you, son of Abu Ghamr the perfumed, tell it
To a people who lost her grazing lands.

26. Inspire wise counsel to bring about great events,
For the clouds have intended to unleash their burden.

27. And if you fold it, let it mature not hastily withdrawn,
For dough benefits not till after it rises fully.

28. Are you not the most generous of them, though similar
In shedding blood, you excel them in crowns?

29. Can they reach an extent the abundant rain clouds traverse
Trailing over the towering castle parapets?

30. Or do they rule glory, while you embody
Generosity, exalted in every respect?

31. When will I see it tremble, frowning,
Repelling all cordial faced guests?

32. A refugee whose worries have anchored at its gates
And the spheres of death harvest its outskirts.

33. In a band like lions, their throats growled
By the rebelling foe, without forests or thickets.

34. From the branch of Adnan, at its most fragrant,
Like a sea pushing waves against waves.

35. When the scream calls them, they rush to battle
Before the clash of swords and steeds race forth.

36. It hurls them on horses quickly saddled
Circling in the fray, group after group.

37. So that the vigilant forgets those under his protection
And stabbing is not feared but with shields.

38.
No protector therein shields a family

39. And no jealous one guards apart from wives.
Until the blood of noble youths flows

40. And between ribs and flanks, spears plunge deep.
The new moons of Dajiya have slept you

41. Descending from the shadows of excited madness.
A people who the brilliant nobility made first,

42. While people are of lineages and mixtures.
In barren years, their palms dispense

43. Redirecting ports of wealth to the petitioner.
Praise cannot reach the extent of their glory

44. As if the praising panegyrist overreached.

45. Stop. After the star, no tracks envelope it
With guidance the foot of the guide can obscure.

46. God knows, and the tribes, that you have
Before the noble, a tongue free of defects.

47. Fate commends what we commend you for
Without blemish or fault attributed to you.

48. The feast has come to you brimming
With a bowl, its side patterned and engraved.

49. And your days are festivals, laughing
At a meadow the Wasmi has adorned.

50. Let your hearing delight in poetry
With odes and melodies entrancing.

51. Were it not for passion, we would have cast off
With a courtyard full of wandering camels.