1. You have wronged me, you missed your chance, so leave
And come no more between me and the sleeve-roller

2. My friend, do not blame me or chide me, then let us graze
On steady patience, not rash or led astray

3. We will return, if the course crooked with its people
Carefully, though right's not in us bent or wayward

4. So stay kindly, your kin with us, go not astray
O daughter of Magnij, lost in the waste

5. I am the famed poet in every abode
I strike like an unsheathed sword, not wavering

6. I left Ibn Nihya laughing at Ibn Salim
And made Hammad laugh about Istil Mu'affaj

7. Lo, I stretch out my hands up high
Calloused to the doors of great souls crowned

8. I am calmer if the throng grows noisome
I may smite the serpent's head when it rears up

9. My lineage still protects me from vileness
And rises above the enemy however slippery

10. Not by chance but a bounty from God
Who guards me thereby wherever I tread

11. The worthy see majesty in me
My friend's no base groveller jousting

12. The slander of folk I have cauterized
When I cauterize slander on a day I triumph

13. In my praise of Haytham I seek glory
Like one seeking favor in Istibn Da'laj

14. On the night of Khartoum I joined its bliss
To a houri too shy if not urged

15. Lubakhiyya of ample buttocks who grazed no flock
With loot, rode no camel in a howdah

16. White of cheek and brow perfumed
With musk over the glowing embers

17. She kept drinking till the cups showed
The white dawn-gleams breaking at daybreak

18. When the time of parting drew near she grieved
Over a sweet night and hidden pleasures

19. And she said weeping to the one who reared her
Her tears flowing, fearful and trembling

20. So beauty, when we meet with lovers
In a sea of love, we will plunge together

21. Nights she said, “You're leaving at dawn
And we'll remain longing for you and yearning”

22. There we met under a rainy cloud
The downpour like a laden donkey streaking

23. I spent the night in a full moon drenching the eye
Shedding on the saffron its light filtering

24. When the wine burnt me I cured its heat
With a frosted glass, pearls interlinked

25. How can Salma, whose face grew forbidden to me
Though we circled, not draw near

26. She was wed to Uthman, a precious pearl
Would I were Uthman since she was married!