1. Were you delighted or did your eyes rise at dawn
Between al-Makaymin and az-Zujaj, litters borne aloft?

2. Women chanting, detained by warriors, though daylight seemed brief
Till eventide, as little time slipped slowly by.

3. When they alighted at ‘Ar‘ar, from them issued
Their doleful throngs and barren plains.

4. Turning right, they spurned the gloomy gloom
Toward meadows of white, like date palms in silhouette.

5. A pounding head I nursed, concealed between
Vitals and veil, an intrusive ache.

6. It walks with me, like wisps of dreams, as though
Pursuing me, resting wherever I rest.

7. My night, when its sun sets, seems yoked
To the blackness of one just like it, joined together.

8. I tend the stars when one constellation sets
And espy another throng revolving like a mill.

9. And a lissome beauty justifies herself to me
When robes slip off an exquisite, perfect form.

10. The kisser is chilled by her mouth’s sweetness
Like smooth Syrian glass, it appears to me.

11. From the water of a departing rain shower
Whose downpour scoured the land, leaving rivulets.

12. So her heart is held ransom by sincere devotion
While their hearts are tormented, shackled prisoners.

13. Can one ferrying them reach their lands,
A valiant man sought for protection, though modest?

14. Walking a second time with little provisions,
When he passes on, need and poverty beset him.

15. The camel sags with its shoulders and stern,
Fatigue slowing its pace to a weary trudge.

16. And when a rider sniffs, it is as though
He is rebuking it or attacking it fiercely.

17. Like an outcast camel, turning over a waterskin
In which are pregnant she-camels like resin and motley camels.

18. Gardens of deep valleys spread till when
Little of the day’s burden remained.

19. They unfurled them with it, then huddled up
With tinkling on their robes heard faintly.

20. They butt his flank and brow
As tracks upon them piled up.

21. Until they reached a watering-place amid the thickets
With remnants of daylight their morning draught.

22. So he revived them while their spirits, invigorated,
Approach the water then turn away to change.

23. A sun they find, whenever they near
Water or stir vegetation, shadows them.

24. They draw near, their complexions then change, blushing
While the fervor of heat exhausts them.

25. The smooth poems portray them distracted by love
An outpouring they desire instead of this trickle.

26. Thus they arrived as a gloomy evening enveloped them,
Eyes baffled by its shade.

27. Water whose surface glitters at dusk
Seems to tilt away from the wind’s push.

28. So they drank, then set out not fully quenched
By the ruddy color left on them from its turbid waters.

29. Recall the Commander of the Faithful with praise -
Al-Walid has outstanding merit over me.

30. I laud but do not exaggerate, and know
He is beyond what I extol and say.

31. I will praise you with famed eulogy
If death does not take me before that time.

32. I thanked you for what you granted me
And you approved of my status - so where can I depart?

33. He has two hands: one feared for punishment
And one dripping with bounty and bestowing.

34. You see rebels seeking his goodness
From every direction, all roads leading to him.

35. They come and go - some transient
Others settling down permanently.

36. They share virtues at his dwelling
An abode generations of delegations inherit.

37. You’d think the dust of his dwellings
Was sifted earth amidst the encampments.

38. The riders' mounts left there a rubbing place
So their foolish ones roam in the evening.

39. God granted your father command of his troops -
The Giving of the Lord of the Worlds is plentiful.

40. He shepherded well and every successor
Will be asked about what he shepherded.

41. And God ordained the caliphate for you after him -
The decree of your Lord is carried out.

42. So your house, when its pillars are counted,
Has greater width than other houses.

43. United with the Egyptian tribes where its
Branches join, an integral lineage.

44. None could bear the caliphate
Except one capable of solving predicaments.

45. He is mild in religion and perfects it,
Wise when souls are weighed, heavy.

46. And when the generous compete, their people
Each have a brother and friend.

47. The lofty qualities they mention are eclipsed
By the overflowing sea that is you, turbulent and roiling.

48. When people expect good, you come to them
With pardons while you do what you promise.

49. A matter our Lord decreed through your tongue
He then aided you – no hardship or delay.

50. So praise and blessings to God who
Made His bounty run its course to you.