1. Your faces, are they the full moon rising in the west, radiant,
Or your sight, is it musk diffusing fragrance?

2. The full moons never rise in the west,
Nor does pure musk give off this scent.

3. You breathed the morning breeze and it was perfumed
With the frankincense of acacia and aromatic plants.

4. You came to us as night flung down its skirts,
Scarcely halfway before dawn arrived, shining.

5. By passion, O mother of 'Amr, it kindles
Fires blazing in my heart.

6. You roused in me such passion
I was like a wounded beast.

7. Think not, though I reveal my love's agony in seclusion,
After you my secret is disclosed.

8. Since you left I have not changed in love
Nor turned from you, fickle and unfaithful.

9. O abode of desolation, like a desert bare
A sea of tents in the cool of dawn.

10. With no voice loud, nor birds in thickets singing
Crossing over in the herd's footprints, seeking escape,

11. To Malik, chief of all, Sumāl ibn Sālih,
A prince forbidden praise but mine.

12. He is the sea, mighty in war yet kind,
The sea is fresh but salt, so is he both.

13. Of cheerful visage, though engaged in deadly strife
Unruffled, undisturbed, serene.

14. Open-handed, of glorious repute, meritorious,
True, fair, and sublime in deed.

15. Generous, vying in gen’rosity, his bounty
Most generous in the lands from end to end.

16. Not equal are the niggard and the sea, the narrow strait
And the expanse where billows surge and seethe.

17. The tribes of Qais and Āmir all knew well,
Settled or nomads roaming far and wide,

18. That none but you gives freely when appealed for aid.
To you alone cry out the suppliants.

19. You spread justice's shade o’er all mankind,
You open wide the door of sustenance for all.

20. Through you this clan is purified by God,
Their honor spotless, steeped in modesty.

21. They crown me with glory wherever I may be,
And I through their munificence thrive.

22. In them, praise God, no shame resides,
Their honor I defend and guard zealously.

23. Yet they immortalized my name through kindness,
So I immortalize them in my songs of praise.