1. The morn of youth is bright and fresh,
Wherein we gain softness and grace.

2. Like spring is youth when
The earth grows green at its face.

3. While age is like barren winter, of hue
Dusty and pale without trace.

4. The young man struts like a supple branch
With tender green lines at his base.

5. Gentle of pace, he sways in his pride
As all eyes on him gaze.

6. Fortune has smiled on him, flirting,
Bowing before him to erase

7. Any troubles ahead. Neither thrift
Nor comfort can make him retrace.

8. As if to misfortunes he has
An eye that avoids their embrace.

9. Many a jar he breaks, longing
For width and light in this space.

10. So the young take turns kindling
In deaf ears with no cause.

11. Or mentors with age address gently
Fearing harm or vile acts.

12. So God nurtured a youth who learned
And returned every loan at its place.

13. And choked an old steed, ridding
Burdens in anger to replace.

14. He fulfilled high pursuits, like Hagar
Flowing freely without disgrace.

15. And the earth folded him in her abundance
As a wan foe sought to debase.

16. Cloaked by night, armed
With weapons, he proceeds apace.

17. Repelling harm, if
Rest weighs heavy in its place.

18. And he sails an abundant sea
With no lack or loss to deface.

19. The weak flock to him confident
In rain when drought tightens its brace.

20. And when years gather like kohl
Parching breath with no trace,

21. When the poets were left
With only fire and debts to erase,

22. And he saw the earth humbled
With no star or rain to retrace,

23. He is the spring, the square,
When spring itself leaves no trace.

24. When matters darken and narrow
Till patience itself loses its place,

25. He illuminates their gloom for the viewer.
A vision that unravels and lays waste.

26. A vision that makes the conscience laugh
When alone, with pure joy on its face.

27. Hearts dry for him, shaken
From where peace once took its place.

28. Like the night whose stars are years
Flickering restlessly without base.

29. Destinies like sand dunes
Crossing a land his winds race.

30. Souls hastened to him in the darkness
Seeking color and form in his grace.

31. Like a wounded dove, you are feathers
When calamity descends in this space.

32. Ungrateful for blessings, they insult
Your gifts, resentful, lacking grace.

33. You bought yourself, sold yourself, rushing
To pale beneath what you displace.

34. Like David's coat of many colors
No woven seam can retrace.

35. The saddle atop the camel you carry
Bent to shape by force and brace.

36. Like beads fused and aligned
Flawless, connected without trace.

37. Till you seem an epic poem
Of fledglings who refuse their place.

38. You sought guidance when it was scorned
And disbelief was vile and debased.

39. Two halves to your day. One for dew,
One for honor and one disgraced.

40. The dew and valor surpassed your ancestors.
Their years and they were laid to waste.

41. Calm of hands, who recoil when asked,
And mourn when forced to retrace.

42. As if wealth to them were stones,
Loved and guarded from harms embrace.

43. A treasure of praise while it remains,
Praised, untouched by evil or time's erasing.

44. I made them like you, gave them qualities so
They remain though years continue replacing.

45. And when Rabi’ah boasts of its best
And the wise are called to collate

46. Among us are Yazeed and Khalid. Our prey
Humbled, by proofs we devastated.

47. And we hope in Khalid whose sway
Across nations all accommodated.

48. Delegations came to you, faces glowing
But you neither bent nor prostrated.

49. I have a bond with you, of hope
And sincere affection purely placed.

50. My plea is my trust and your merit, so
Noble deeds and untainted grace.

51. You did not degrade me, nor use
Intercessors that might debase.

52. So I owe you gratitude, protection
If you ruled the oceans, their bounds you'd displace

53. They bit their lips and hands,
Envying you, and more they effaced.

54. If curses from them were flames
Under cauldrons, if only they graced.

55. For in you lies my hopes' end.
Generous, flowing, nothing effaced.