1. Perhaps you rise above the cliffs,
And are cheered by an Indian fire's gleam,

2. A Tameemi woman whose cheek was never scratched,
Except by the deceit of your promise.

3. You became a sight that sates all eyes,
And talk that appeases every ear.

4. Like a wild doe, the moon's mother,
You shone for your seeker, rising high.

5. While beyond, the shuddering land
Repelled the ravenous beasts.

6. If you pelt it, its trees turn to spears
Closing off the ravines before you.

7. They turned away, and did not approach,
Bringing naught between us but parting.

8. I beseech your love—take hold of it—
A pact inviolate, it must be obeyed!

9. Our halt there at first meeting
Was on barren ground, where we bade farewell.

10. I bid farewell to youth’s prime
And hold dear your love, though it be sold.

11. I put off my youth, but my greying
Only drew me, striving, nearer you.

12. I took shade in Nejd, though its oven
Drove me out, and I hurried away.

13. I recite Kharqa’s verse about lovers—
Her hand reaches out to kill, working death.

14. If she misses, at dusk, the dawn
She will bare her arms again from her cloak.

15. Beware the young girl who savors blame
And foolishly hopes to be obeyed!

16. She says, ‘Set out!’ So heed her.
When chance is gone, you cannot reclaim it.

17. Seize from life its heyday,
Take your share, hour after hour.

18. You blame me for consorting with men
Quietly, keeping my distance from all.

19. You did not know I dyed this age
To its color, harming and profiting myself.

20. I multiplied pleasures for their own sake,
Seeing in them only passing joy.

21. If I wished, reproach would not waste me.
You do not alter anyone’s nature!

22. How many a brother I thought I had gained,
But when my hand was full, he slipped away.

23. I bandage with it my health
In tatters, heaping rags upon it.

24. I want to heal its splitting veins,
But the flask insists on shattering.

25. God protect a people in their seclusion.
Slow to anger, they charge swiftly to aid.

26. Their forbearance hides excellence
Lest they leave glory neglected.

27. Though parted, their insight binds them.
Even if hostile, they are friendly beams.

28. With their breasts they ward off harm
And parry foulness with their tongues.

29. Hardships soften the soul’s sun,
But in woe they persist, refusing surrender.

30. If told, ‘Live replete, bellies filled!’
In plenty they die starving.

31. Sons of every knowing, noble tribe,
Speak smoothly if asked, and firmly if pressed.

32. You say to Weed, as his mother shrieks,
Clutching him to her breast to suckle:

33. ‘Turn back death or be thankless! Live,
Brave one, if you are truly bold!’

34. The forgiving rain down on Ayyoub’s sons,
Who meet harm with bounty, not rancor.

35. Their hands reward beyond measure
Mushrooms, truffles, bustards, and grouse.

36. Nobles whose honor you see guarded,
Whose plenty remains open and shared.

37. When lean, their leanness clothes them.
When prosperous, they prosper together.

38. When speeches leave the eloquent dumbfounded,
The fluent-tongued come bearing their burdens.

39. Blades who sheathe the secret in their breasts
And bare envenomed deaths that stalk and kill.

40. When the spear lies about encounters,
They stand by it speaking truly.

41. A deer misbehaving with enemies—
Her masters respond with good treatment.

42. When they witness courageous women suffer,
Their company makes them share the blows.

43. Lofty Ziyad Abu Talib
Whose sun of might grows ever stronger,

44. When he saw his ancestors were noble
Kept his word and chose the finest course,

45. A youth whose palm fills when you greet him,
Whose arm, if faithless, the forearm makes good.

46. Desert rain, sticking to the furrows,
Gluing the pebbles fast together.

47. When it exceeds the extra gifts
You'd think it fairly shares one pasture.

48. Were you to ask him for his soul,
He would tax himself beyond his strength.

49. When the good deeds of men are few
And strange, their gathering brings them joy.

50. The Summoner chipped their virtues,
Though the years told out a dried-up palm trunk.

51. Your great deeds mock one who falls short
When calculating the height of the towering sky.

52. You traced your line to what you came from—
Old rags and a leaf of parchment.

53. Weighed with it, you are not worth
A mote of glory, a single grain.

54. I broke with my fickle friend,
So his love became enmity.

55. I discard the excess he drips
While he cuts off my trickling leaks.

56. Through you I tore from all I was robbed of
As time ripped it away against my will,

57. And drove back the assault of events,
Though it had no power to defend me.

58. So if praise can reward ordeal,
I am determined to undertake it, lift it up.

59. I sent them, the wine-skins,
Seeking none but you to fill them.

60. They stray far when they cut through
The desert of poetry, seeking pasture.

61. If they chance upon a meadow
Yours, they add more lies to it.