1. She grazed a few sheep from Tubala, docile and gentle,
With a youth watching over them, wherever they lowed softly.

2. She grazed whatever her heart desired of the livestock
While autumn winds blew over them.

3. The confidantes of the veiled ladies told her
Tales of Nejd, so she became refined and gentle.

4. She yearned for her days in Al-Bataah,
So she stretched behind the slim Salif.

5. Her hands reached for the soft grass,
But desire allowed her only the withered.

6. Is there in the tents, at the edge,
A heart that would be kind to her?

7. Has the new crescent of our pact
Borne sweet fruit and approached ripening?

8. The morning breeze goes between them,
Inclining toward some, and leaving others.

9. A passionate love that does not cease
To host the guests of love's agony.

10. It is adjacent, so eyes
Are frightened, and swords terrify.

11. You see what the eye of the truthful friend desires:
Abundant honor and subtle righteousness,

12. Women of the physiques of those houses
As witnesses, and intimate men.

13. A golden one from the perfumes of Hejaz
Walks gently, shedding her ornament.

14. You see how saffron watered her cheek
With its intensity and wafting fragrance.

15. Some people clung to the houses of glory,
While I was hung from it like a slender crescent.

16. The jealous one protected her, so she returned
To cover me with the curtains and unfold the shutters.

17. The leader of the warriors trained her,
So she wore the bridle and weak ropes.

18. When the words of the slanderers filled my hearing,
Suspicion clung to her ears.

19. So how many nights have the spying eyes
Carried only light sleep?

20. I chatted with her, so her glances enticed me
And her words - then I was chaste.

21. There had been a love that cracked the ribs
But it was a noble love.

22. I had a serious want that I took
With wisdom that shreds the discerning heart.

23. Before the caller of dawn I prayed
For a boy advancing the high glories.

24. So he stirred, and on his head was
The excess of sleep, releasing a sleepy eyelid.

25. He wishes - if you would be gentle for an hour -
For the greatest hopes, though I was quick-tempered.

26. I hurried him, so I rode the dangers,
And he stood, embracing my back as a companion.

27. And I said, "Turn with me to a side
Impenetrable, and a house of empty ruins."

28. For your family is where glory lies
And your house is where fear lies.

29. Look behind the folds of darkness -
Do you feel comfort in faint, fleeting glory?

30. May the full moon in the family of Abd al-Rahim
Brighten and lift these veils.

31. They are people, so restrain yourself from them and take
Their reins if you fear misfortunes.

32. You see the water - its shine does not waver,
And the fire does not lie to the guest.

33. Tethered to respond to the scream
And roaming to water the throat of the thirsty.

34. And white camels in the meadows
That the moon in its waning cannot see.

35. If the faces of the opposition tarnish,
Leave them be, gentle or kind.

36. The insignia of the king makes apparent to you
Their throngs in multitudes before you.

37. Their small numbers seem to you
Like tens of thousands.

38. You may wonder which of them
Is most intimate or kind to it.

39. So praise their elder and the boy,
And accept their ancient and new.

40. They agreed upon it, converging like the bricks
Of a great and small building, hands outstretched.

41. They saw the shrine of glory neglected,
So they inclined and remained bent over it.

42. And the chief of the competent leaders stood
And they came behind row after row.

43. A young man who does not settle for disgrace,
And does not return oppression except with his sword.

44. He does not consider money a protected face,
Nor the field of annihilation a frightening back.

45. If you wrestle fiercely with an enraged lion,
And if you flirt with a gentle gazelle,

46. You see his turban as forgiveness,
And on the day of reckoning you see it as wise.

47. Its fringes flow with the zeal of competence,
Rising and falling back in turns.

48. It berates the brave in the shade of the spear,
And the gaze in it suspects the employee.

49. I appealed to it for its great campaign
Squeezing in a subtle joke.

50. It treads on poverty that does not cease,
While the lion lags behind the herds.

51. A dusty, muddled land
That does not milk abundance except with effort.

52. The stallion returns it renewed vigor,
Hurting its tilth and the plowers.

53. You opened your hands so you adorned them
With shady clouds and pouring rain.

54. Perfections that complement the honor of glory
After wilting and greying.

55. To you we traveled, mounts of delight,
Entertaining its easy times and welcomes.

56. With wishes, the sincere suggestions
Of varieties upon varieties in the sea of your palm, decisive.

57. Confide in me what you seek,
And be aloof from the people.

58. Men censured the girls of the enclosure,
So I was their passionate, kind protector.

59. It is as though, from her glory, I see
The star as her neighbor or ally.

60. So I continued to mount them on
Literary endeavors, ripened or plucked.

61. Seafarers whom neither sea frightens
Nor blowing winds alarm.

62. For your glory, they have principles
Preserved like a pact and fulfilled like a vow.

63. To you, their great number seems small,
And from you, the small seems plenty.