1. Leave fondness for the beloved infatuated one
For glory lies between the cultured and resolute

2. The exalted ones have urged you to renounce love's guile
So urge yourself away from the abode of grief

3. And support your clan as much as you are able
For it is the mother of tribes and greatest pride

4. When the heights of your people are considered
On a day of honor and preceding merit

5. Those who revile you each miserable night
And denounce you each inauspicious day

6. If their shouting finds no answer
They are to it as moths to a flame

7. And if a misfortune leaves them unharmed
Without dignity, they enrich it beyond price

8. Tameem gathered its glory in Darim
And the cream of its glory settled in Aktham

9. They cultivated me in Iraq, eloquent
Fleeing if I but hinted, without pause

10. The eloquent fear my biting words
And the valiant dread my marked blade

11. I obey my judgment before obeying resolve
For resolve is flawed without wisdom

12. I pardon realizing wealth through disgrace
But the wealth of the disgraced equals utter loss

13. I am stronger than the habitual at my dignity
And the shattering of attacks if I am not generous

14. In life I have milked fate halfway
Not leaving any knowledge unlearned

15. And I learned its consequences, not heeding
The woe or joy that would come

16. I wonder at the shower that when asked for dew
Does not give it to the able, though mature

17. I have entered the courts of kings but was not
Revered unless also conferring reverence

18. I rose above the leaders of their regiments
And established my words like a pounding hammer

19. I began to extol eloquence to such an extent
That even the articulate vied to reach it

20. I accessed their hidden thoughts willingly
Without imposition or aggressiveness

21. Praiseworthy experience kept unveiling me
Until the hidden became undisguised

22. I had hoped from fate as though
Rust residing on polished Indian steel

23. So a horseman of the heights cleared it
Stamping out ashes each resolute year

24. Responding with the courageous hero, who could only
Be answered with generous, ennobling heroes

25. With Muhannad, God molded his iron
So if he prolonged blows, it would not crack

26. The young man of munificence and valor wherever
I summoned them to cups and blood

27. With Sura'ra'a, resolute, his wisdom
Bridled impetuosity and recklessness

28. Glory is not prepared except with aid
And wealth only with assets for the resolute

29. Munificence and wisdom pledged him to the heights
By nature, without generosity or forbearance

30. Receive him whether prospering or hosting companions,
Unique among the lofty, a brother to bounty

31. Refined traits, as though his sides
Were canopied with stars

32. A gentle companion, his hesitation and refusal
Of a chain in both his conditions and voice

33. So if you befriend him, sweetly pleasant
But if you contend with him, coolly remote

34. His guests are enriched with knowledge of the routes to encampments
Beyond needing a hearth or kindling

35. Pillowed on saddles, he imagines them
Sleeping from tipsiness, though not slumbering

36. Necks bent over mounts as though
Felled in a battle of wine or gruel

37. At the time of billowing daybreak, crisis
Leaves the beauty debris of the grieving

38. Until the caravan halts, and the dust of years chokes
And the fold of fate closes their bodies, yet the magnificent

39. Repel crisis like a firmly knotted rope
They set forth in the bounty of Abi Muhannad, inclining

40. To bestow like a pouring raincloud
The station of fulfilling desires is to pardon the mighty

41. And endure the burdens of the infatuated
If the day's brilliance conceals its light

42. There is gloom like the darkness of blackest night
Heaps amass as though its convoy

43. Were cloaks bunched at the ruins
She deserted the gardens of grief gracefully

44. Seeking a companion at the goal and refuge
Folding the meadows, their white like satin

45. Demanding a retinue like hyacinths
They shook the saddles so fiercely

46. Their sheaths were like kindled flames
They honed their coats of mail on boulders

47. And mounted their resolves on each summit
From every interwoven village showered

48. Flowing with outstretched arms, babbling
And the Messiah flowed with the rivulets until

49. Their channels at the valley drained the brimming rivers
You saw an Indian more patient than the fray

50. And more seasoned than loosed arrows
So Al-'Ajjaj deserted the wastelands with an onslaught

51. Were it not for the piercing of its stabs, no star would shine
It was the sister of his munificence, so she assumed

52. From him the sustenance of soaring eagles
Wakeful, feared for his insight and composure

53. His blades precede consideration ere the clash
Had it not been for his love of fray and fracas

54. He would defeat the enemies, their saddles unfastened
With Fakhr Al-Din, the citadels of glory were rebuilt

55. And reconstructed after long destruction
He restored what the scrolls recorded of his deeds

56. Truly, faithfully, without illusion
So Abi Muhannad is the authority in what the transmitters

57. Related of him, straightforward, unfailing
It is as though Yahya Al-Barmaki and Ja'far

58. Were sent by the adversary of the aggressive defamer
Thank your God since you have come to enjoy

59. Praise from me more prized than scent
I have forbidden it to all but you, so they

60. Are envious of you for this honored stance
My praise I have specified for you, for you are unique

61. In this age, uncaring for profit of coins
I have made it unlawful except for you, so all