1. The night, and the earth belongs to the bold lion
Who roams seeking rest or prey

2. Sometimes stretching out in a forest
And sometimes lurking at dawn

3. Sweet victory is his if he shows mercy
Intentionally, and if he growls or shows his claws

4. He passed by his prides’ celebration
Scornful of being commanded or deterred

5. He sees in himself a dignity
Unlike the insincere counsellor’s view

6. Most were not created to easily ride horses
Nor were saddles made short for the backs of humans

7. So hands do not desire a bridle
That their owner then finds maimed

8. For the one who aims his arrow is his opinion
Whenever he sees a resemblance, he ponders

9. He obeys his own resolve leading
Without hesitating or delaying

10. The leap helps him before he is seen
Appealing for cowardice or help

11. Homelands do not attract him, nor
Is he fooled by the charm of settlements

12. He is content with grace as long as it supports
A strong side and protects the vulnerable

13. But if humiliation creeps during it
It disturbs him, alarmed and ready for battle

14. His nobility scorns being commanded
Or deterred like a docile horse

15. When resolved, nothing delays his charge
Or makes him falter or hesitate

16. Say to the leader of the state, be successful
The opponent has surrendered and hostility has ended

17. So observe those who trail behind
The blinded must eventually see

18. You rode it while young and smooth
Bearing the fierce, intrepid lion

19. It casts the home of humiliation behind
Seeking glory and prominence ahead

20. Whispering, taking its share
Approaching, leaving nothing behind

21. Until it firmly carried you in comfort
Honouring the desert as it would a city

22. Guarding the surroundings, if provoked
It would shake the white and the brown

23. It reminds you of glory, visiting dignitaries
Night talk and the fires of encampments

24. And youths around you from settled lands
Your allies, invited and offering help

25. When angry you’d think it a supernatural creature
Making the mountain side tremble

26. It obeys your every command and prohibition
That you disdained to command or prohibit before

27. Your hopeful enemy whom you cannot see
Has now, after you, become minister

28. A suitor’s prayer who did not find his fortune
More miserable through you or deprived

29. After you, it denied his courtship
Seeing no equal or dowry

30. It was degraded until its back
Became more calloused than when it cantered

31. Spurned among the blind
The one-eyed competes for it against the sightless

32. The pauper appropriated it when it became
Sold for a coin, yet still unaffordable

33. It had delighted you with passionate love
Today it is desolate ruins

34. Your absence made it your enemy’s
Letting the wolf graze on it at dawn

35. Remorseful, fists clenched
Regretting it completely

36. It asks the travelling caravans about you
Like a lover who willingly abandoned his loved ones

37. And spent the night tossing and turning
Where, it asks, where are you, regretting,

38. Apologising, hoping to be forgiven
Missteps cannot be undone

39. By one who persists without remorse
O treasure, no companion retained you

40. The merit of a treasure is to be cherished
Tomorrow your treacherous critic will come

41. Newly aware, repentant
With deceit he hopes to regain favour

42. Begging a slip be overlooked
But stand firm, able to hold your resolve

43. Without distraction, cool your anger
And show habitual forgiveness

44. As one like you, authoritative, is wont to do
Let the wound heal, it has been

45. Cauterized by branding iron and healed
Make haste lest it escape; no cadaver

46. Was ever shrouded faster than it recovered
Ride it, for it has been tamed

47. Humbled to be reined or saddle-broken
Absence and its discipline

48. Have subjugated the necks of the arrogant
A sapling you planted and raised

49. Do not let another reap its fruits
The Almighty does not commence

50. Without building high and seeing through
Ask for my promises about the likes of it

51. Did I fail or speak untruthfully out of threat
If revelation descended on a poet

52. I would be the bearer of good tidings, warning
Or if one unqualified claimed miracles

53. I would be the evident, dazzling miracle
How many signs I have for you, had you

54. Preserved them, events and omens set in motion
It thanks openly and complains if

55. What is said proves true or untrue
No truth grants its advocate

56. A reward or prize for being purchased
My best fortune with you was whatever

57. I gave generously and poetically
Forgetting while destiny rules supreme

58. And power requires I be remembered
You were my spring and the fertile soil of your land

59. Where the thirsty serpent finds joy expectantly
Why has my meadow, once flowering, withered

60. Since you became inaccessible, remote
My scream is to you, not from you

61. I am not fortune’s traitor or cheat
Estrangement has consumed me since you left

62. Consuming only an emaciated youth
It has found my flesh sweet, even lacking

63. Anything but brackish, bitter taste
I was shriveled, yellow leaves

64. From being deprived of your water
So how am I, while the wells of your homes

65. Have denied even a drop to fall?
Who will preserve my life in his shade

66. As I count the years and months?
And who but you can face adversaries

67. Satisfying and conciliatory?
You even called me wasteful

68. When a praiser is called prolific
I swear if time passes me by

69. Those who fell short will regret after me
O my intimate pillar, reconsider

70. An outcast abandoned in the wild
Help immediately, even modestly

71. And guarantee your generosity for the sake of what
The valley has granted and the land has known

72. And do not leave me with the prayers of youth
Miserable among the destitute

73. Remind yourself that my devotion to you
Will shame you, despite me

74. Observe the moon rising unblemished
Although its crescent remained hidden one night

75. Make use of the New Year and celebrate it
Employing it for glory and conquest

76. One day in days but it was seen
To have merit and pride over them

77. As if its lack of colour was solely
To avoid competing with your command

78. Attribute it to Chosroes, for if you choose it
You will have matched its character

79. It swears, and honesty is its oath,
By He who loved the earth and illuminated it

80. That you will remain eternal owner
Without time altering or repeating