1. Had the nights carried my reproach,
Or she had heard what I said,

2. But good advice was lost on her,
Her ways on barren pages inscribed.

3. I complain of the willful ones,
Who show no tenderness to the hapless,

4. Obstinate women who beget
Only what saddens my heart and worsens my state.

5. My time does not respect my integrity,
Spreading injustice around me and my wealth.

6. Had it wished of what I can endure,
It would be shamed by my great endurance.

7. I have no friend except
One who is heedless of men.

8. Live alone, or die, but let not
Love of the past kindle your sides.

9. Do no rash deed
Incited by a slick remark.

10. I know myself and those who oppose me,
So I am indifferent to friend and foe.

11. My heart led me not to care
About the paucity of those who were unfair to me.

12. I have no companion except
One whose wealth I do not covet.

13. I am most indulgent to those
Whom I cherish most dearly.

14. She blamed me while sitting, thinking
The drawn swords honorable.

15. Seeing swords, though no blood was shed,
Beyond the polished blades.

16. She disapproved my guarding rhymes
From them, and my making them trite.

17. Were it not for the son of Abd al-Rahim listening,
No poetry would come from me.

18. His zeal for loyalty made him
Eager to free my tongue from fetters.

19. He cured my estrangement with his company,
A remedy for my grave afflictions.

20. I give him praise among dissenters
For the influence of his loftiness and nobility.

21. By the daughters of Sun and daughters of Money
Swaying weakly from emaciation.

22. So straighten, leaning pillars,
And prop up the drooping litters.

23. The white-skinned and fair of face are blackened
Pots, red embers their cheeks’ down.

24. Of my kin the nomads, the desert sands
Did not bury them in the desert.

25. Nor did the change of the South wind drive them
From there to the North.

26. The long-necked stumbles over
The excess of chilling clothes.

27. Its hooves inscribe clearly in the soil
What the horses mark with their shoes.

28. If the sword falls short of striking,
Supply it with steps made long.

29. You spread glory, O sons of Chosroes,
That the nights have recorded,

30. And today about their kingdom is a legend
That tells of its early days.

31. On justice they built everything,
So they chose it in the days of moderation.

32. The eyebrows of spring by it are pages,
And the meadows thrive because of it.

33. No sky stretched its land,
For it is a cure for hardships.

34. Meet the dawn with the best that comes to you,
Its clothes and yours joined.

35. O you of bounty, I fear for you
Only the excess of perfection!

36. I said to a people who were misguided
And confused the clear proof with misguidance:

37. Be not astonished if the darkness is bewildered
By the first glimpse of the crescent moon.

38. Ignore it jealously with all your blinking,
For kohl is in the gazelle’s eyelid.

39. It eclipsed them and you rose above them,
For you aspired to perfection.