1. He woke me to lightning while he slept
Ignorantly, while the Arab is resolute

2. If he was angry with my sickness, it would not stir me
You knew I was a reviler of lightning

3. He told me of youth and its people
So the veil was lifted and the concealer slept

4. Lightning brings rain, and this
Is its provision - my pouring tears

5. In every essence of my crying
What pleases the shepherd and satisfies the blamer

6. As care and yet it is my trait
A strong covenant and lasting pledge

7. The lovers asked, and I have a difficult sigh
That unyielding determination cannot break

8. How many dangers below you, O essence of beauty
The valleys and ruins humbled before

9. And a stand that looks upon me doubtfully
In which appear your tribe’s gazelles and fawns

10. I lean on the sand dune as the thirsty camels writhe
From the whims of my heart’s doves

11. And I am bent by a wandering gaze
That did not make me a debtor, though the chief is infatuated

12. The gazelles are hunters in the meadows
While the camel stallions are the fabricators and slanderers

13. I block the way to those who offer with a heart that, whenever
It takes fright, returns still seeking

14. As desperation obeys, then cunningly turns
Greedy, along with the accusing wind

15. How I spend my life herding Death,
Which are the vilest of creatures, deceivers

16. And I need time as a companion
Helper and peaceful fate

17. I eat anyone who grinned at me with his face
Though the face of his heart is hostile

18. Nothing angered people against me but
That I am an expert and knowledgeable of their world

19. I can do without it frugally
While they have its greedy fortunes

20. Virtue and chastity were allotted to me
As the Apportioner willed, not as they desired

21. Not every juicy lip,
Though overflowing with its clouds, is untainted

22. God has among the paths of glory some youths
Whose companion against time is triumphant

23. They recognized the scent of departure, so it became
The breeze of their gentle breaths

24. The vastness of the land is too narrow in their crowds
So their land is under the mantle of resolves

25. Like arrows above them are discerning sights
And faces like unsheathed swords

26. If a fawn calls under them for help
Its long nights are cut short

27. As if the night is the darkness of a people
Raided at dawn by the assailant

28. Say to him who doubts my back warily,
“Increase your foolishness, I am a peaceable man”

29. No hand outstretched dims the sun, nor
Does a foreign fang bite in sudden assault

30. My time has already revealed my pages to you
And my attributes became visible

31. So who are you today while my victory is present
And my absent fortune is coming to me

32. The waning moon has been restored to me
As a full moon, and the nose of darkness is bent

33. The dew has been returned to the earth, and
The cutting swords have filled its sheaths

34. For everyone who doubts fate bitterly
Among the clan of Abdel Rahim, there is a merciful

35. The blossoms are stars, among which some
Borrow light, and others are veiled

36. And the pure lineage which no stain of pollution
From a foreigner has touched with tenacity

37. They excelled in generosity, so each protector
Of his guest is his brother or contestant

38. And favor was distributed justly through them when
Injustices were referred to their judgment

39. Say to Abi Saad of what prolonged separation
And cruel parting have dragged me

40. Yesterday, I would have been content with my desire
That it be said, “He has returned safely”

41. But today, O flutter of my heart with joy,
Let it be said, “Safe and victorious!”

42. They have appointed the reins of authority to the most
Powerful, whom even the greatest cannot subdue

43. The healers alone were not their chieftain
In their sickness, but the final arbiter

44. The epithets of a people are divisive idols
While your epithets are reconciliations

45. The eye of exaltation has not seen for itself
In what glory bestows or contests

46. Like a cloak I departed wearing
Glory, while rough wool is worn by the lowly

47. They tailored the clouds as a garment, so
Your body was clothed - boast of whom you resemble!

48. White or dyed - the stars' blossoms were brought to it,
Arranged and sewn

49. Apparent pride, and within it
Another, and twin gifts are best

50. They crowned you as a pillar, yet
Crowns are the turbans of the likes of you

51. And they sealed with softness that no
Tooth criticized, seeking payment, regretting

52. The means of eminence supplemented it, taught
To beware lest even the resolute covet

53. If he who flatters stands, he stands
To the face of the dignitary, not to the shameless

54. An intention whose qualities on the day
Of the wager he does not know, the destructive gambler

55. Setting forth on four legs
As if they are, in their nimbleness, runners

56. Before it, the winds did not make light
Of wings as burdens

57. In its lead runs the wolf of the valley
And predators threaten the game with it

58. It avoids what its foreleg avoids
As they lie on their flanks

59. You mounted it as the full moon, and Canopus
Was unharnessed for you - it is the excuse if blamed

60. Tresses of brightness whose knots
Were weighed down by their braider

61. And amplitude of chest despite the narrowness in it -
Articulate, while its people are mute

62. Water that gives you an eloquent mouth that
Time does not obscure, untainted tongue

63. What is praised in it would forever be condemned
In the like of lips and smiles

64. Adorned with yellow, born of Rum's breed, their
Fathers the Abyssinian forefathers

65. The sun's cloak is beneath it
While beneath are a plump cheek and a dazzling forehead

66. Jewelry has ripped it open, so within it
Are unborn ones whom no misfortunes have befallen

67. They have not what remains while you remain
Of what their suckling mothers weaned

68. A hand passes the limits of killing and mutilation among them
Yet they have no crimes

69. They speak no language, all of them
Among the people are interpreters

70. Her command is your sword which she employs
A hand whose changing of time is subservient

71. Your fame is the eyelids of your swords
And your scripts are columns supporting your kingdom

72. Whenever a tribe disobeys
And takes to rancor and disputes

73. You summon it to your enemies
As booty - its skulls and remains

74. Exert yourself, so you may attain the likes of it
For exertion is the ladder to exaltation

75. One who enjoys another's shade will ransom you,
Seeking his own affair while he is sated

76. He fell asleep on this civility ignorantly
While you stand rejecting the flecked pebbles

77. Binding his inability out of love for us,
Caring not what the critic says

78. When his cloak falls short, the envious chides him
In every member with speech

79. By you, O people of Abdel Rahim, are those whose
Destiny's birds are ominous

80. I married my hopes to your oaths
So their wombs bore strong bonds

81. I sold my hopes, feeling secure,
And the branch of my livelihood thrives tenderly among you

82. A folk whom the camels that hasten
To water have filled their lair

83. With you is a perpetual abundance of wealth
That rights and legal dues recognize

84. You fulfill bounty whose like
Enemies allege and the unjust permit themselves

85. You are of a people who share with their Lord
What they have gained

86. And you have worn it, so take it off, for the dew's
Equity is not to divide the spoils

87. You built it, so clarify, and describe it
With its like - thus are noble deeds

88. Grant it uniquely as a gesture of honor to one whose
Daughters of nobility have always been gifted to you

89. Arabized with your praise - in it is the pleasure
Of some people, and in some people, its critics

90. When it is flawed or confused, its father is Dari
Poetry, and the stars roam with it

91. The souls and spirits fall in love with it
As a bracelet - if only they were steadfast!

92. They grieve them bitterly, and heal them by what
It articulates - it is the touch and the piercings

93. By it, your slumbering and distant ones love -
Present and dreaming of the lands

94. My specter recited it to you in sleep, so it was interpreted
Truthfully, though the sleeping may be deluded

95. Its key and seal testify for me
That I am the seal of poets