1. Abandoned settlements, their people long gone
My copious tears falling on their ruins

2. I bade them farewell on the day they departed
My heart aflame amid my ribs

3. One evening they packed up and left for the highlands
And the tattooed ones broke camp and marched away

4. How many hands clutching reins, clutching still
Startled by the separation and the racing camel

5. How many hearts have shown, through parting's woe,
Scars - and parting’s cups are passed around

6. I feared, in our days together, that distance might come
With goods - but distance makes no excuse

7. I yearn for that time whenever gloom descends
And daybreak dispels the dark of night

8. I miss the days I spent among them, short though they were
For the days of shelter are short

9. If only they had kept the pacts I kept
Though blame and reproof have marred them

10. If only they had, before saddling up, agreed
To meet, rather than provoke conflict

11. While we live apart, each breath still sweet
Until some warrior stirs or takes up arms

12. The weeper sheds copious tears for cruel estrangement
His turban loosed, his breastplate rent

13. His eyes refused comfort in sleep
For he had wept before leaving, dawn nigh

14. Greetings to those settlements, though now
The haunt of mountain goats and wildlife

15. Greetings to one who keeps his word as though
His loved ones lived there still

16. Loyal to the covenant though his comrades roam
And the campsite lies deserted

17. When they left no hope remained
That solace might soothe my spirit

18. The land is devoid of them - death is no disgrace
Nor tears, now we are parted, shameful

19. No excuse have I to live, not having died of love
When intimacy left and ardour came

20. The shelters of the abandoned camp - all you see
Is borrowed splendour

21. And every tear spilled in passion
When love departed is glory's equal

22. My friend, time has altered this land
Scouring bare what robes it wore

23. The land I visited is now deserted
Though once a place of pilgrimage

24. It provoked my love when days went by
With many things once pierced my soul

25. Mirages roam the wilderness as though
Ships ploughing a sea of vapours

26. Her tears for what grief has done
Stream over her soft cheeks

27. Protect him, men, should misfortune come his way
For you are his standards and guiding lights

28. When summoned to fight, you come roaring
To defend your honored land

29. Swords that, when allies lacked, did not avail me
Nor any bright glancing blade...

30. My friends, as you know, my heart is like
A wind that gusts and rages

31. My tears have watered the riding beasts’ necks
While the clouds failed to pay their tithe

32. Forgive him this wrong - though he denied it
No real fault can be alleged...

33. My soul moves through generations flourishing
Whenever fate allows a rending of the veil

34. And poetry - when thought gives freedom to its steeds -
Outstrips all that would give it chase

35. Why do the masters of verse act as though
Some potion has dimmed their wits?

36. Have revelries of poetry made them lose their minds,
Reducing them to madness, levity and hollow pomp?

37. This, if brought forth in former times, would be
Hallowed by Arab and foreigner alike.

38. Flawless in diction, peerless in eloquence,
None can equal him among the ancients

39. He is untouched by the formalism of their verse
When they seek him, alarmed and put to flight

40. The verse of this age is mere elegance of style
While his is natural and fresh