1. My friends, rise early before the dawn call
Truly, success lies in early rising

2. Be not to me as the waning crescent
That yesterday shone brightly, but today with another light

3. People blame according to a plan of fate
And questioning is the cure for the blind, so rise

4. Asking, and wisdom lies with the expert
Do I refuse bounty and limp along

5. Bare of argument, wearing the cloak of shame?
Who remains in the darkness of hand and desire

6. Bowed down when I am no bowman?
It is not for me to weep for a roofless abode

7. While its people smile cheerfully
Truly, in the intimacy of kings there is

8. No thought for song or Zainab or filth
My excuse has been youth, equated

9. With whiteness like that of splendorous nymphs
Bright of face, they charm God himself

10. With broken gazes and languor
Virtuous, pure, flashing like a mirage

11. Of vain glory
They converse laughing like martyrs' blood

12. Mixed with pure, refreshing water
The heaviness of their limbs broke my heart

13. With sweet talk and a fleeting age
I was content with little from them

14. For I trust the little to bring much
I sought the elder born from the youngest

15. Since elders come after youngsters
She brought me into her boudoir until

16. Dawn aroused me instead of the singing girl
Then passion overwhelmed me and dreams returned

17. And the borrowed regalia was stripped bare
I left pretty trinkets

18. Images that shine or others without images

19. Not all gladness remains delight
How much sorrow creeps beneath gladness!

20. The joy of women has gone. I find
No pleasure but talking with men

21. My youth was of the pleasure of living
And it destroyed me—after youth comes the bier

22. So does the new wear out over time
And no person avoids his fate

23. And she invited me to her soft bed
One of the tender girls of high breasts

24. So I pushed away my cares with resolve
Not weak-willed and wavering

25. With a boon companion who, seeing the evening star
Bend down, bends like a drunken reveler

26. I spend my night melting away his sleep
And I have nothing left but frustration

27. He longs to walk on carpets while I distract him
With my poetry—and what use is yearning?

28. I praised him among Choesroe’s heirs
So we broke free of captivity’s shackles

29. Every partridge sees beneath it
Dawns giving way to other partridges

30. The mother ostrich laid her eggs on high
And so increased the valley of falcons

31. The ostriches roam their pasture and take cover
Among inaccessible, cragged places

32. Desolate by day, with no rest
To be had between dusk and dawn

33. From a poor man’s lament shone
The music of the bleating flute

34. The Kurds camping as dusk falls
On its shoulder like perching eagles

35. I clamor in this strange land with odes
Lashing mercilessly without tiring

36. My verses pursue the proud
With the sword and heated iron is no redemption

37. They recoil from noble birds
Hiding in the shaded pavilion

38. Daughters of the sand grouse alight in the sands
On the stones of Al-Saqur in the hunting ground

39. When echoes sound or camels bray
They take wing like a panicked fugitive

40. The crack of day remains among summits and oxen
Crossing it, and among split rocks

41. Then it feels out the chicks—so it turned back,
Raging, cleaving mirage after mirage

42. With swiftness making the prey flee
While the ostriches, falsely crying, spur it on

43. I have no she-camels but those
Who lag behind the vanguard

44. A waning moon fearing its setting in darkness
And a Najd eye of changeable color

45. A loved one appeared on the horizon like a banner
Of many ranks or a surging sea

46. Good fortune followed it charmingly
Until it was loved like a prince

47. It burns like a candle or higher fires
I see its glow neither fall nor fade

48. But from one urging it on constantly
A lion—when it growled and bared its teeth

49. It devoured the sight of the seers
And when it was hidden, I say of insight

50. I am intimate with it, aware of its conscience
I turned from it to the hawks of Bani ‘Amr

51. And it met those hawks halfway
The sky flashed among them

52. And the night throwing over its veils taxed my friends
An enemy raining destruction—though it runs

53. In circles during calamity’s onslaughts—
It boils war with wars, ending the day

54. In the essence of crisis
When delegations come to him

55. Its wind heralds a rainy day
Its example is from a great father and forefathers

56. Who succeeded each other in bearing the great burden
The all-encompassing protectors—if war stands

57. They heap favors upon us and increase what is in our breasts
Orators on pulpits and steeds

58. When warned of an awesome day
They have help when the thicket is aflame

59. And they have awe of sin
Galloping to give freely from surplus

60. They do not brush aside the poor man’s arrow
They descended from the height of glory

61. With forbearance, attainment, and dignity
Loyal to what they avowed to themselves

62. Whether times were easy or difficult
Gray hairs rose to grandest deeds and glory

63. With lofty opinion and oceans of insight
Brave when war scorned them

64. They met it like lions or panthers
Agile lords of the feast’s entertainment

65. Who heal the anguish of the refugee
They sported in wars until they were tamed

66. Then rested in musk or perfume
All of them confirm the meeting and do not refuse

67. Like a ladder for one is straits who seeks refuge
A Muslim—war recoils from his face—

68. An aide like al-Hibrizzy the aide
And there came to me the distance of Salm’s travel

69. About the people—I said, “the best of princes”
He appointed stewards and a provider of plenty

70. Until those in need were satisfied
Attacking the enemy at dawn

71. And relaxing with snakes after proving
Every ring-necked snake is protected

72. Like an engaged girl in her boudoir
Magnanimous in Syria like a staff for the guide

73. Or like its staff, the pliant wood of Al-Sajir
Munif’s short spear wounded one with two spears

74. Strutting smoothly on raids
Like the humming of wasps when they buzz

75. As the Zephyr buzzed for hornets
Then he uncovered himself before the Caliph

76. When the swords of crisis crossed
He broke the well-equipped army. Chaos appeared,

77. Striking the arrogant one with a blow
So their ignorance raced them and war overtook

78. Men who stripped themselves for conflicts
A generous one who sees blame as a snake—

79. Dawn whitened him after the darkest gloom
With much affection, humbleness,

80. And praise clinging like silk fabric to silk
So he rose high, shone for glory

81. And uncovered a downpour from a rain-giving cloud
A lovely one vibrating for praise

82. Shaking like the famed, ecstatic mystic
Guarantor of smooth meetings if the winds

83. Blow their provisions from unfertile ground
He does not wrangle over surplus nor give

84. Boastfully—no good is in the spendthrift
A master, a chief—and in rule there is

85. One who protects his honor with vows
A heaven over the clan that only

86. Darkens for one shining and luminous
He buys praise with equipment and safety

87. Sees his earnings as thrift
O son of the sword of Iraq, if none like you

88. From us has been visited, then where is the visit?
Delegations crowded around you, and so

89. We have come late—this is the time for images
If you are a master, you are son of one who ruled,

90. Assuming command, for he has no peer
He was sheltering rain for the stricken

91. And neighbor to the desperate refugee
How many did your father gather

92. Who came miserable, destitute, captive!
He grew feathers on his wings until

93. He felt strong, guarded, flew—every downpour