1. I am not one who prefers Marwan when
The cooing dove in the baths calls to her loved ones.

2. And he who brought back life and himself
To weep for it with flowing eyes.

3. None gives a gift like his own soul
When terrors close in.

4. Death has extinguished itself with his soul,
And a prisoner's limbs stand halted before death,

5. Still the Marwanid house lavishes bounty upon me
At first, then redoubles.

6. If I am imprisoned though innocent
They seized me in confidence, unafraid.

7. They imprisoned me only because I am Ghālib's son,
Because I am of the clashing ones, not the quailing,

8. Because I am he whose mouth they used to reckon,
Against their enemies' vituperations,

9. And many's the foe, less than they, I have sent
To death, unable to attain the heights of valor.

10. Whenever my ropes were coupled to another's,
Coupled to its match by twining,

11. I would surge ahead, outpacing that mate,
Pulling taut against the resisting partner.

12. To the foes of the perfidious I am a club
Rich in strokes of calamity, binding fast.

13. Between these two encampments goes a cup of anguish—
An agony for him who falls into conforming.

14. Though absent, they were amid backbiting narrators
And spiteful hearts busied with imprecations,

15. Only yesterday they guarded against my attack—
From it recoiled every censurer and detractor.

16. My companion in chains knows well that his head
Will perish or be flung into the fires.