1. My weapons - spear and polished sword - protect me,
And every tight-reined swift steed is my ally.

2. Yet though in youth I wasted all my prime,
My voice still answers those who raise the cry.

3. With heroes have I stood till flesh was hacked
And shoulder furrowed by the arrow’s slide,

4. Wisdom remains when men have spent their wrath,
My provisions ere my people’s own provide.

5. Amazed was I by one whose fluent speech -
No mere vaunt flowing from an empty pate -

6. Expressed a wish that he with Qusayr meet.
Wherever was my love, I wished him well.

7. He wished to meet me clad in my best clothes
As though their patches were a locust’s wing.

8. A sword I have, a Canaan blade that flows
From furnace fires in bygone days of Ad.

9. Had he met me, a fierce enraged lion
Of dreadful onset and sharp biting tooth

10. He had met. And had he known death’s certainty
And that his fat heart from all blackness shone,

11. My life he sought and I sought his demise.
Seek pardon of your friend for your intent!