1. Wandering we roam gardens unknown,
Between the folds and plateaus erect.

2. To the lightnings where the eye keeps watch
From the zeal between clear and turbid.

3. It watered the lands where remoteness lay,
The rain of every dissolving cloud.

4. The home of a people we kept company with for a time,
Oh, blessed are the people of that house!

5. If they make me lonely, I don’t forget their nearness,
I mix my loneliness with their company.

6. My friend, a lightning flashed, smiling,
Beyond Taima, or a lamp of Nibras.

7. When we headed to Aleppo,
The light shone on us from Ibn Mirdas’ face.

8. Crowned of the Beni Shaddad, in him combined
Goodness and munificence.

9. Whoever searched the nomads and the settled peoples
Found none like Abu Ulwan among all people.

10. Echoing principles not of the religion
Between Mirdas and Mayyas.

11. I exhausted my energies describing him
For ages, tiring my pens and paper

12. Until I took a covenant from his virtues
That my steeds not stir any discord.

13. My leather mat and tent suffice me with his bounty,
More than suffice me than his surplus robes.

14. Time was harsh so I took refuge in him,
And his harsh heart overnight to me was gentle.

15. O you whose noble deeds I’m known for,
Deeds that grew my hair over my head.

16. Sweet your action, my pride among my generation,
And your virtues my pride among poets.

17. And good your mention, never leaving my eternity,
As if your memory coupled with my breath.