1. The early morning dew, chased by the ostriches,
Watered you, O abode of my love.

2. The breezes of youth blew through you,
Scattering the perfume of flowering trees.

3. And when the singing stopped and no visitor remained
After one bid farewell or took leave,

4. Passion decreed that you become
A refuge and dwelling for lovers.

5. Demand rain though the clouds are miserly,
Reluctant to shed more than a drizzle.

6. And I have little to ask of them
Except what God knows I seek from the clouds.

7. Where are your dwellers, did they go
To the Hijaz or Syria?

8. Scattered after being united, your hands
Stretch out for them in vain.

9. Each left confused and foolish
While the sand grouse and quails seek them.

10. O haven of faith from Maysara
And selflessness - never stingy or mean!

11. We stood before you in your dwellings
And broke our fasts there in the evenings.

12. Happy is the rider carried by his camel
Over the smooth sands and rugged valley.

13. She walks proudly though her hooves
Bleed as she crosses the rocky earth.

14. Too dignified to obey the whip
Or give in to the pull of reins.

15. She feeds the desert when abandoned,
The wilderness is sated and at peace.

16. Her water is fresh at the springs,
Or found in pools by the tent ropes.

17. My fevered heart pounds within me,
Read my fevered heart its rites.

18. Dismount and speak wonderously
Of a heart roaming free from its corpse!

19. Say to the neighbors of my love: Alas!
That such sweet life with my love did not last.

20. We cross the years and do not forget you
Though passionate longing rips through the year.

21. Carry to me on the scent of the morning breeze
Your spirits, if my eyes are granted sleep.

22. The one lost in darkness stands at your gates
Does he wake or slumber blissfully?

23. Why care who I quenched when thirsty,
Or who was denied my wine and drink?

24. And wonder at one who sees wrong as lawful
While deeming wine forbidden!

25. I blame you, but to whom can I complain?
You are the sickness, who can bring the cure?

26. You and fate are a sword and a mouth
That never tire of blows and strife.

27. Whenever I complain of my luck
My plight only grows worse and violent.

28. And when I try to make peace
It is as if I bare my neck to the sword.

29. I blamed my days for betrayal
And they increased their tyranny boundlessly.

30. I resorted to silence, complaining to none,
After words failed to express my pain.

31. Men abandoned defending my rights
While glory wept for them as they stood.

32. God warded off and protected
Men who did not fail me when called.

33. Their generosity clothed me so I would not
Beg, their pride refused shame upon me.

34. They appeared in the wings of my imagination as stars
And aligned with the arrows of my goal.

35. Their light illuminated my hopes
Lost and darkness amongst the people.

36. Known for their generosity until they became
Illuminating beacons in the dark of fate.

37. Why disparage a noble past?
Or covenants of old with them?

38. They gained no generosity from me, but
Were created from the clay of glory as nobles.

39. Born from the mother of glory, her teats
Gushed for them after she had run dry.

40. They inherited the origin of supremacy
And so suckled souls that harbored perfection.

41. They left people sitting hopeless
Lamenting their powerlessness and standing idle.

42. They unlocked the doors of generosity
And found martyrdom in the leader of the faith.

43. He came seeking harmony and became a miracle
Whose very being showed he came as imam.

44. He surpassed people by generations, a respected
And gentle trunk that did not bite on the reins.

45. He carried virtues on his shoulders
So both his sides were adorned in splendor.

46. He reached the utmost glory from which he began
His branch never wavered until it stood straight.

47. He observed the state through his management
Waking the guard when the enemy slept.

48. If the wolf saw his flock approach
It would go blind with fear or pretend not to see.

49. He protected it with sword, vision and tongue
When it drew near, reached and stretched.

50. He healed its afflictions through men
Who had cared for it but increased its distress.

51. He within it, his brother and his brother
A coalition supported in harmony and power.

52. Resolute like fate shining,
And wise like columns in order.

53. A hand the sword trembles in
And a generosity that trained the clouds.

54. And qualities that quenched the thirst
Of the honorable whenever heads and bones quaked.

55. And ideals perfected without need
For addition except endurance.

56. A nobility disdainful of your earnings
Unless you obtained it with integrity.

57. You were my pillar in my days
Though they were my opponent and rivaled me in glory.

58. Through you I was relieved of burden
Though cares pressed heavy on my sides.

59. How many hands nurtured me, their affection
Flowing after I was weaned!

60. They realized my condition so their kindness
Was like cool water and peace in the heat of poverty.

61. You were the cord of love I held most dear
And most faithful in adversity.

62. Why then did affection withdraw from me?
And caring fade away, why?

63. How much forgetfulness while the intercessor for me
Stirs memories of me and concern!

64. If you are veiled from me, frowning sets in
So when can I hope for a smile?

65. Why did bitter boredom surprise me
From one who had tended passionately to my love?

66. But I excuse you fully, so seek
The excuse of glory if glory blames.

67. Consider what answer for the lofty
If they grow angry or shun me.

68. Then long for my superiority and seize
The remnants you find of me hastily.

69. Draw it in slowly, sweetly
To inundate the aloofness abundantly.

70. Your characteristics shake the earth
Traversing and settling the land.

71. Were my miracles constituted in you
The poetry would pray to it and fast.

72. Or the dead would come to life in shyness
As you spread beauty, decayed and forgotten.

73. So listen attentively and remain
A possession protecting it when dawn disperses the darkness.

74. And one morning a garden of my dwellings
Strolled leisurely like a bride on a Nayrouz morning.

75. And a delegation came to untie pledges
Approaching the group and uniting.

76. Each day your gatherings have
A profitable market found nowhere but in you.