1. Farewell in the morning, goodbye
O yellow house on the meadows

2. Milk her camels among the acacias
Between her fattened and lean ones

3. A nursing she-camel weaning her young
On lush soil, though not yet weaned,

4. Until you see the preserve of Al-Hamá
Marked with the fertile traces of the striker

5. And smell the flowers’ fragrance wafting through
The lined and perfumed tent walls,

6. And your land is clad with what the breeze
Brings it in gifts from Mount Sumayr,

7. The prayer of one who found solace after
Losing his love in the vestiges and landmarks.

8. The saplings wept yesterday, spare
No tears that flow abundantly today into the streams,

9. My eyes betrayed their tears
I moaned, and moaning is the weeping of the mouth,

10. Speak up if you are eloquent
Alas! Or listen and understand

11. And of the woes of passion: I ask
The lexicon about news it does not contain

12. Your people – may they not perish! – killed me
With sorrows in the heart unuttered and suppressed

13. With what life – happenstance life –
Did they replace our life in your ancient shade?

14. What land carried them that did not sink
Or darken, catastrophically, under their weight?

15. How many pledges did they break to pacified men
And took lightly the murder of a Muslim man,

16. And the eye is criminal – they pour out their hatred
Into hearts that are no evil-doers!

17. And nights I spent sleepless therein
Were sweeter to me than the best of slumber,

18. Sheltered from heat and overwhelmed by passion
On your sand, by your moat, and your pillar

19. Regretful, angry – satisfaction appears to me
And prohibition in the guise of the granter

20. Its tent walls bend under the palm branch’s weight
Yet when entreated, it shows no mercy

21. I mix my cup with tears because of it
And do not drink anything but my blood

22. How can its spittle heal me
When its promise is but to replace me when I’m sick?

23. By God, time leans to oppress me -
How could I say: be fair, be equitable!

24. By one who, if he moved the earth, would not see
Any equity for me in the spoils!

25. He swears by the Faithful and swears falsely among
People, and failure attends his oaths

26. If he would tend to fairness and justice
None would win the prize but my arrows

27. The days and their sons have against me
After we come together, the leap of the deaf adder,

28. And such a stand - wounds do not attain
What its painful speech achieves, so injurious,

29. It abandons treachery’s victim in the dying breath
Of the Indian sword’s destructive assault;

30. And after it, men’s honour is
Exposed, in a repeated season

31. But Ulayyah’s houses, built to last, glory’s bastion,
Will not be demolished for eras to come;

32. Into their arms, the clan gathers me
As the bubbles’ boil embraces the arrowheads

33. As if their hands were tourniquets binding
My wounds – suffering’s balm for the gravest illness

34. A house Ayyub established, raising its pillars
With confidence, solidity, strength and durability

35. Then, in time, rebuilt even firmer
By his descendants, made steady and augmented

36. Divert all war spoils there
From every undefended breach to breach

37. Tread with your right foot the left flank
Like the spark that strikes out from Indian steel

38. Absence does not create desolation in their nights
Nor make the comradeless stranger anxious in the dark

39. When their feet pace the courtyard
Carpets serve them with perfumedATR

40. Against the leader of chieftains it steps forth
To confront fading twilight with a melodious tune

41. To a hero whose shining face reveals
The gloomy face of time at its dimmest

42. Dazzling white, the good omen of his arrival
Repels the attack of the most sinister fate

43. Opening its hand as if to clap joyfully
The door of obscured hopes springs wide

44. Impoverished by generosity while rich within
Generosity being steps enriching the destitute

45. And hardship but visits the contemptuous
While gratitude suits the appreciative

46. A handful spills in the valley, ample
As the basin of the remorseful, left unpraised

47. If compared with the sea, it would not feel ashamed
Or, aligned with a star, it would not diminish it

48. In it, glory and the veil have a place
Away from dinar and dirham - they flourish!

49. Two Imams pleased with faithfulness
When betrayal’s liability was never assayed

50. And a sword protecting their kingdom
Whose view could not be flawed by inability

51. Supporting him, honouring his insight
Into truth steadfastly, no doubt, no greyscale

52. Honour and might protect him from
The blame of critics assailing fault

53. No forbidden fruit tempts him
Nor does desire sweeten to him a day of denial

54. Nor does he pursue men who have passed
Their shame filled volumes of misdeeds

55. Until strung to face allegations
His wounds were bound by a sheltering ally

56. They said to him, seeing his loyalty to her
Take her hand on high! Judge and decide!

57. For the inheritance, you have a right by number
To it, undeniably, without any shoving

58. You carried its burden and were honored by patience
Did not complain or grow bored

59. A post of glory is yours if you desire it
Let intruders flee frightfully from aggression!

60. Whispering demons prattled to the vulgar
But did not rouse or determine him

61. How often is an ignorant fool endured!
His forbearance unknown and unlearned

62. One who sniffs at the cup of hope
In its draft sees but the blindly roaming comet

63. Contesting with fate but through it
No contract can be struck or pact concluded

64. And live out your days therein even if
Its term seems but the lifetime of the unrooted sapling

65. I guard men from what cannot be seen
In the night, watching for the stumble of stars

66. O You who preserve glory by preserving me!
And magnify it - You magnify me!

67. Suspending my afflicted hand
True to the covenant, unsevered and unbroken

68. You planted sweet fruit from your affection
While many trees do not bear fruit

69. Some people shame ancestry with new passion
While you tend passion of long standing

70. And I alone am told, apart from them
Hold tight to the most generous of all the noble!

71. So hear the reward I owe you through them
I gained it as spoils from one deathly sick:

72. A beast roaming the land fearlessly
Neither pack-laden nor hobbled

73. A hypocrite in lean times
A chatterer in an era of sealed lips

74. Forgotten are nights though celebrated
While time grows old but she does not age

75. The pride of one veiled, though she gives
You deference, is the lowliness of the weak

76. A noblewoman descended from Hashim
Or his nephew – her lineage climbs to the heights

77. Her people’s ignorance of her lineage distresses her not
My ancestry is the non-Arabic father

78. So delight her, relax, and take pleasure with her
From the joy of your life – and joyfulness!

79. Let your hearing glean from my words
The essence I scattered from my mouth