1. O my friend, do soft winds answer
If we ask where the rain clouds wander?

2. Like us, a soul that weather tattered,
Heat and thirst have long time shattered.

3. It saw barren wastes spread everywhere;
Naked hills, with beauty laid bare.

4. Weeping, though their eyes know no tear,
Yearning, though no sense stays near.

5. South and north winds, fortune's blight,
Sapped their strength and killed their might.

6. Happy there we were on horses fleet,
Like horses, made the sands our seat.

7. For us, the winds sigh their threnody;
For horses, loud neighs their elegy.

8. O my friend, help me mount again,
As friends help friends, joy to attain.

9. See the lightning, how it descends,
Like a necklace that a girl ends.

10. Its undulations have the lover's throes -
Pallor, wasting, tubercular woes.

11. Behind, our horses leapt up to pace
Through the gloom to it at full race.

12. On that dim night, hillocks in the dark
Were like roaming beasts, confused, stark.

13. Their hoofs struck fire bright and red
Till the grooms, in panic, fled.

14. Shapes loomed like the Pleiades cluster
When the chains make the captive fluster.

15. Dust of deserts made their hue fade;
Rags and misery on them weighed.

16. Better though it was they stayed to rest
With a host whose comforts are best.

17. A king of kings, of fearsome might,
Whose awe struck the valiant with fright.

18. He inherited glory from his father
And his spears made his glory further.

19. The star descended from its height,
In the sky halting, no more in flight.

20. From the spring of glory and grace he drew,
And his branches and roots virtue knew.

21. The family of Saleh are pearls rare;
The best that the lands anywhere bear.

22. In virtues and glory they outpaced all,
As guides do, trav'llers to enthrall.

23. Almuizz restored their lost renown
When sloth their spirit had beaten down.

24. After he had broken the spears in the field
And turned the white swords that refuse to yield.

25. A charger whose neigh filled the air,
Whose scent made the stallions despair.

26. The spear in his hand struck with clang and clamor,
Putting war horses to flight in tremor.

27. O glorious one, whose glory no more would fit,
And no more paths to glory were lit,

28. You're a blessing we thank God for, and our nation's bar,
An honor that never would set or mar.

29. None like you are found in our band;
While you live, blessings fill our land.

30. Last night, of a noble youth I spoke
Who was virtuous, though far he broke.

31. From you he drew fair deeds; and you gracefully bore
What faults Abu Mani' had before.

32. If his burden you bore, so too will you carry
Our burdens; strong, patient, unwary.

33. You're brothers in candor, as were ʿAli and Jaʿfar, ʿAqil true.
May you never desert us; we'll ne'er desert you.

34. No absence of yours the good would impair,
Nor will time make you less generous and fair.