1. Khalil, your poetry called me
My poetry obediently responded

2. After I had disobeyed it
And lost hope in this field

3. I no longer aspire to race with you
But I wanted to follow you

4. To a path not tread before
By poets of old

5. Where we could be the first
To blaze new trails

6. For time has taken its toll
On the eminent poets of the past

7. Though they were the first
To shine radiantly

8. In the night of those eras
With the glow of falling stars

9. They brought joy and wonder
And created novelty and marvels

10. It is not my intent to roam
Describing them, for that is too long

11. Rather I wanted to say
A lad is naturally inclined

12. To the new and adventures
From Imru' al-Qais to

13. This age they did not innovate
But merely imitated

14. Those before them as if
It were a law from the heavens

15. That accepts no change
Or as if the minds

16. Had been possessed
To find no pleasure

17. Except in imitation
Like the foolish copycat

18. The nomads are gone
And eras have passed

19. Customs have changed
And times have shifted

20. Yet we remain lamenting
The abode's ruins

21. Wandering with camels
In the dunes and valleys

22. Asking in the valley of al-Naqa
When will be the meeting point

23. Pitching tents
And herding cattle

24. While we live in an urban age
An age of minds and thought

25. Knowing no wilderness or
Old ruins or encampments

26. Owning no she-camels
Or mounts to ride

27. To cut across the desert and hear
The jinn's music in the dunes

28. What pleasing tunes
But we do have trains

29. That connect lands across
We wake up in China

30. And sleep in Sudan
Lightning that once unpredictably

31. Struck from the sides of the valley
Now is lightning that benefits

32. Bringing close the distant
We speak in Lebanon

33. And are heard in Tehran