1. I wish and hope tires the despondent,
And I spend my days saying "if only" and "perhaps".

2. And I heal the burdens of life when
Its darkness is illuminated by the lights of hope.

3. It is solace, though it is the love complained of,
And the consolations of a sad soul cure illnesses.

4. And a love I think little of what is called misery
With one who wrongs me and persists in wrongdoing.

5. Do not think it strange that I frequent
The crowds asking about one who did not ask.

6. I imagine the gazelle appeared a deluge
And the fledglings dew in the hollows of the ruins.

7. O daughter of Sa’di what injustice you have wreaked
Loyalty has returned to betrayal and stinginess.

8. You have led the Arabs astray from their religion
Or adopted a fabricated faith?

9. For every slain warrior I have a saying:
He did not support me and the protector was unwise.

10. Without them, spears are smeared
And the protectors of bees without honey.

11. So whose spilled blood is required of me?
Vengeance for it divided among the tribes.

12. My state, O Khaansa, the separation between us
Did you graze after a pact that did not hold?

13. You told me to be patient - so grant me
A portion from a spring that has melted me by its heat.

14. Where at al-Bat’ha is your covenant
By the Lord of Āl whose name is exalted among you?

15. And the slanderer bustled to cause dissent between us
Not once did your foot move, O man!

16. He thought it was dangerous love and so maligned
But found a noble bond and so relented.

17. Do no evil and refrain from nefarious intrigue
Let he who hears you, if he understands, refrain.

18. After you there has been only consideration
That wounded the heart even if the killing ceased.

19. Travelers at Minā, if not for chance meetings,
Their lips would have been covered in kisses.

20. Each white woman longs for kohl so that
It would be between her eyelids as kohl.

21. The upper half is all vitality
While the lower that nears the ground is languid.

22. No feebleness shook her slender waist -
It has the characteristic of the smooth spearshaft.

23. I have no jurisdiction over the faith of the lovely gazelle
Even if I appointed myself judge and acted justly.

24. When her delicate fingers wiped away my tears
My breath was foul when she drew near.

25. They said when they saw me, “Shame on him!
An old man acting foolishly flirting.”

26. Whenever they missed me they would stand
And ask “How fares our brother?”

27. So when the vitality of youth returned
And its years passed, and old age the destroyer came,

28. They were wrong about my age and said
“Most of life is in old age” - who will grant me less?

29. Delusions that were dreams have passed
And a youth that was like a shadow has moved on.

30. If fate had allowed me to see myself
I would have held fast to my early days.

31. O for a comrade whose heart after my love
Has left - how feckless he is in his opinion!

32. I wish I knew if he will replace me with someone
Will an eye that loses a head find a substitute?

33. A pearl like me slipped from her necklace,
It is right that it should have some defect!

34. As for the slanderers meddling in my affair
With faces exchanging ambiguous glances,

35. Deprived of excellence, they poured out
An abundance of words, mere empty chatter.

36. Everyone with prominent wide cheeks opposes me
Though his heart has a narrow path, dark and stifling.

37. He said something good and intended something bad
If only one who does not intend good would not speak!

38. He offered me honey wine at Ḥanẓala
You are not sweet, your wine is vinegar!

39. They denied my forbearance and I was ignorant of them
For when the forbearing are provoked they act ignorant.

40. My sitting peacefully in solitude hurt them
Fate passed by my people and so lodged me alone.

41. Time has consumed and destroyed my comrades
If only it would gorge itself and not eat!

42. They went their ways and left me alone
And when a man's friends are few, he is few.

43. I have no other goal with my arrow except
Every pouter I startle with the arrow’s tuft.

44. Wonders at my carrying them though they burden me
And when the naked man bears a load he carries it.

45. How many times has your shame displaced me,
Driving away the pebbles from a skin already chafed?

46. Another's concern is for tomorrow's affair
While talk of yesterday is repetitive and tiresome.

47. I thank your day or I blame it
What is past is done and what will come, perhaps.

48. With the Banū ‘Abd al-Raḥīm my paths to desires were opened
Though the paths were narrow.

49. I frequented people and befriended them
And directed my hopes to them and drew near.

50. O land, give birth to ones like them for me
Brothers or fashion their equals as ornaments!

51. They quenched my burning thirst and gave me to drink
When the wine-skins were overflowing and skins full.

52. They were equitable in affection so in them is half
And when they give freely they increase in excellence.

53. Wherever you look they are noble,
Lords of the generous, brothers of the poor.

54. They carried my worries on their shoulders
Every back carried as though it was born to carry.

55. Each linked to the next, whenever
I say the excellence in them is complete and perfect.

56. Fate gave birth for them to an intelligent lad
Of generous character, who acts when he speaks.

57. He was guided though still a child to whichever age
The pens were guided in the descendants of Ismā‘īl.

58. Whenever he appeared among his peers
They were not stingy but rather felt inadequate.

59. They envied his father in him - astray is he
Who envies the sun its radiance and goes astray.

60. They are like a fire, whether they tend to it or are angered,
It feeds glory and gives shade.

61. Even if their envier denies them
An innocence the expert nose of the camel recognizes.

62. Impregnable, its paths are closed
To the ways of deceit and cunning.

63. Whenever they decided anything for it with wisdom
A nail they hammered in was made smooth where it pierced.

64. The sleepless guarded its purity
Though it was deaf, disobeying cajoling.

65. The sword is helpless to overcome it
Whatever the books and messengers say of it.

66. Their champion stretched out his hand until
He grasped it, a pen that harvested though the spear stalled.

67. Proper conduct cultivated your natures so
Each of you followed the generosity of his father and obeyed.

68. It only diminished your wealth
The excess of what you give while the giver owns little.

69. Your oaths have become accustomed to truthfulness
And when sorrow intensified, it was eased.

70. They guaranteed me against fate and so helped me
For when one you guarantee harms you, he will not be disgraced.

71. One hosted by you is counted among your glories
In all that is good and beautiful.

72. He returns the water so the first to drink
Are those who did not know the ways of separating camels.

73. You are a pasture in which I am the guide
To fresh growth, familiar with the terrain.

74. You have pleased me with love so follow my lead
As the neck has always been too majestic for the yoke.

75. Poetry reminds me that I am your adviser
In praise, so it sorted and picked out the best.

76. I was allotted some favor in poetry for you
For poetry has its portions and ups and downs.

77. Whenever I weakened in composing it
They wondered “Is he thinking or drunk?”

78. You vexed me with it and so I took joy in it,
Just as the half-asleep eye delights when the rooster crows.

79. Every abode other than yours is to me
A stretch of land or one traveling the course of a parable.

80. Your generosity stirred me to begin
One who herds glory does not graze unasked.

81. For you is my love - its parts honored,
Saved from the barren hand, the product of sickness.

82. Be gone from one who is not stingy with blessings -
It is a debt, and if asked for, it floods forth.