1. I turned away from Fahr and his two neighbors
And bade farewell to Nu'aima in peace and alienation

2. Sulaima said, your burden on us has become heavy
Your abode is to come and go, not settle down

3. My brother in love, why do I see you shunning us
When you used to accompany us in hardship and ease?

4. Your aloofness from us is not out of hatred
Nor is my question strange or absurd

5. So be like a brother who meets his brother
And converses openly, no secrets or pretense

6. I saw you attired like a knight ready for battle
When you used to be relaxed, in shirt and robe

7. Brandishing a sharp sword in your right hand
While holding another to settle affairs as they come

8. Riding the steeds of youth and early manhood
That raced wildly before settling down

9. So I said to them when they were halted in their trappings
Speak gently and do not race ahead

10. Al-Mahdi one day reined them in
When henna adorned them in the meadows

11. So they would only be ridden to battle
While I would no longer be visited or visit

12. I have become too heavy except for a hand I can grasp
Or the visit of a dear friend who I hold so dear

13. Sulaima, be content with me or change
My fate if you find a man of my fate

14. The Commander of the Faithful prohibited me
So the colts were blessed till I came to my senses

15. And rescued me from the burden of seventy pilgrimages
A Hashimite youth averse to burdens

16. So do not wonder at one who emerges from misguidance
With good intentions, matters can become confused

17. This is the time I have embarked on piety
And my disturbing thoughts of the night have died out

18. I have buried my passion alive, so I shall not visit
Sulaima or Safraa, however long the moon shines

19. Now I am weary, my obstinacy has ended
Passion has died and my intoxication has lifted

20. Convey my greetings to the coquettish girls
I would sometimes play with in the shade of a lovely blossom

21. And the yellow-skinned ones scented with saffron
When adorned are like golden Greek maidens

22. Others burdened me with reproach
If my grave witnessed, it would have prayed over my grave

23. I left the prayers of Mahdi content
And honored a pact between us, no treachery

24. Whenever a girlfriend turned against me
I would replace her with another, gentle and affectionate

25. One who caresses in secret, though wine is at hand
So I said to her, “I do not mix water with wine”

26. And were it not for Commander of Faithful Muhammad
I would have kissed her mouth or made her my breaking of fast

27. By my life, I have burdened myself with a sin
So I shall not increase my burden upon burden

28. And the corrupt man who came to advise me
I admonished - the lover can benefit one he admonishes

29. I say to Amr the day his cousin was absent
One must say what needs to be said to Amr

30. He once tried to corrupt me, so I healed him
Each and every day, evil upon evil

31. None can restrain the transgressor but the son of Hurrah
Foremost with the sword, excusing others

32. Were it not that I befriended Malik and Ibn Malik
Their slippers would not have slipped in the sea

33. When I saw the people's lax hearts
Inclined to a sea I did not sail upon a sea

34. I left passion to the weak and battled
Girded for war, too honorable to be inactive

35. A chaste woman who sheds no blood or flesh
Safe from the cries of the fleeing, bold against attacks

36. When spears pierce her, she is clad
With her horsemen, not in plain or rugged terrain

37. And if she heads out, she points the way
To the disgraced ruler - nothing can escape as she does

38. She plays with sea serpents, and perhaps
You see the souls of men flee from her advance

39. She carried my companion and arbitrator
Swaying like a lost camel in the barren desert

40. To a king of Hashim in holy station
And donkeys in kingdom and ample numbers

41. Praised through prosperity, blessed through prosperity
His hands and thighs scented with perfume

42. As if kings are blossoms around his throne
And ostriches surround his pulpit out of awe

43. Rebelling woman, you have transgressed too often
Not all that is feared by the outspoken merits poking

44. Leave me be, for I am protected by Muhammad
Noble Prophet of God and free King

45. We smell the sweet basil, brilliant in fragrance
Hoping for showers from the rain clouds

46. When a tribal chief challenges me to dive
I refuse and do not give in to force

47. And hold fast to the rope of one the drizzle of clouds
Does not miss wherever he turns or halts

48. The youth of Abbas calls to harmony
Spending his evenings settled or travelling

49. Whenever the devout call him
Noble, aided by prayer and patience

50. Elders and youth exuding reverence
With joy for supporters and maidens

51. The sons of Hashim do not drink from a cup
My tame deer, slippery with smooth round swords

52. Agitating deaf lions heading to the fray
With powerful thrusts, not in plain or rugged terrain

53. O Commander of Faithful, I recognized you by gentleness upon us
Not by boasting or arrogance

54. Abdullah built you a house of caliphate
Where you dwelled between the departed and the preying eagle

55. In your possession is a covenant from the trustees of Muhammad
You shepherded kingdoms from the sons of al-Nadhr

56. You inherited the traits of Ali, pure Arab virtues
And protected Ibn Abbas, aided by gratitude

57. And claimed the inheritance of the Prophet Muhammad
Despite a people looking askance in enmity

58. And Abbas will reserve for you a glorious day
When you mention him in gatherings, he shines among all gathered

59. A stalwart by the Prophet with his sword
At Hunayn unfailing and unfaltering

60. As if the people's blood that day of meeting him
Was the train of a bride's dress and bosom

61. In the evening he calls the Muslims with his voice
And they flock once hearing his voice from afar

62. You are a leader whom our hearts and minds incline to
On the day of panic and confusion

63. You have grasped an affair and become knowing
Of what is to be feared, overt or covert

64. When the rain clouds do not pour heavily upon us
In a land, we trust your skies to shower abundantly

65. And wine like cool water, though it is Babylonian wine
You have gathered, never to separate, like water and wine

66. Your victorious sword, your supported state
And retinue undefended by any pact

67. You killed the treacherous apostates
And the sword sufficed for the one masked in disbelief

68. So you replaced his robe in the morning
With one that horrifies the eye with dripping red blood

69. You venture out with provisions and return with spoils
Upon the treacherous wretch and resentful schemer

70. Thus the hand of Mahdi sacrifices bountifully
And returns grasping for the tyrant and his ilk

71. Passionate unlike other women, as if
He is Usaymah fulfilling the needs of the vulnerable

72. May God reward Mahdi the worshipper generously
He eased my debt and lightened my burden

73. He clothed me, granted me, and honored my council
With our council the day of affection and visiting

74. So I have shined in the shade of the clan
Well-off among the clan, enjoying favor

75. As if I am from the kingdoms, the kingdoms of Hashim
At their doors, some hosted, some enriched

76. Thus are the domains of kings, their homes
Those hosted rest, and master overwhelms guest

77. How many bygone arrogant and rainless lords
Whose nights the days would erode, neither hosting nor hosting

78. And tyrants struck down by the swords of Muhammad
Left as carrion for crows and eagles

79. When Mahdi sits his virtues pour upon us
As moonlight pours from the full moon

80. He is sweet honey, sometimes
The elder can be bitter as chicory

81. Abundant riches flow his way
And his palms rain bounty on the recipient

82. Lo tribe pampered with favor! Muhammad
Surely rises to power and dawns with victory

83. A slaughterer of game when he ventures out
And raincloud of goodness, most generous upon generous

84. Upholding acts of nobility, and in his possession
A cure for the illness of love and poverty

85. From him each day we have a cloud
Raining upon us females and males

86. A leader of guidance, his concern being praise and reward
No good in what is without praise and gratitude

87. I have returned with him hastily, without appointing
An intercessor, and I hope to justify my life through him