1. Ages are not for today or tomorrow, you have worn the humiliation of fate after being worn
And you have become like one whose glory has been erased, since when has a willful person been shackled to injustice and ransomed

2. So if others march against the enemy instead of you then stop
And if others stand for the nobles instead of you then sit

3. And say to zeal there is no protector today after it
Nor anyone standing without glory and pillars

4. And say to the whites there is no palm for a vanished past
Nor seller of lineage for a continuous lineage

5. And say to the enemy, sleep safely on every side
Of the land or slumber in every cradle

6. For the one whose vanguards’ appearance frightened you
In every pasture and water-spring has gone

7. Where are the steeds inspired by revelation
Rushing to the neigh of the prolonged scream?

8. Where are the tall lionesses who if they wished
Could attain what is between eagle and leopard?

9. Where are the gazelles whose hands
Have donned a great gown or turban of a master?

10. Where are the camels penetrating the far desert and gloom
To the nearest drink of honor or farthest?

11. Where are the cisterns pouring from the bowls of pearls
Yearning mounts at the noon sneak-attack?

12. Where are the cooking pots stable as if they are
The heavens of a sand grouse’s stretched neck?

13. Where are the delegations who knock on his door
With records of promised threats and promises?

14. Trembling before the prospect of meeting
When they see the gate of outstretched arms

15. Greeting reverently through the bars
A glorious palace not decrepit

16. Paying respects frightened as if its porch
Is the coil of one whose arms droop

17. If he intends the soundest opinion he executes without wavering
And if he speaks he delivers the words without stuttering

18. A sword whose edge he keeps sheathed
Though it suits him better to have it bare

19. If the submissive draw it, it may
Deflect from the past of a straight-flying arrow

20. Evil tidings to you succession of stumblers
On the missteps of the fettered one

21. Is it that each day a drop of your blood
Is wiped by the claws of a gruesome feast?

22. Kings and brothers as if after them
In graves only five days filled

23. Piteous! When recalled the heart descends in our breasts
Like the ibex in rut at kindled flames

24. Farewell to you, though an Arab custom
Would reduce for you the drops of curdled milk

25. You have not tasted fine living ever
And you have not come except with agonizing spectacles

26. You have not found safety for a fearful one on earth
Nor shelter for an outcast in the land

27. You have not drunk but blood afterwards
And not embraced but the charging adversary

28. You have not looked but blindly afterwards
And have not suckled but a renewed enemy

29. After the tall from the family of Amer
To the whites, armors, horses and help

30. And the people of the red tents whose curtains
Drape over pillars, glory and firmly rooted honor

31. When they panic for a matter they rush their backs
To every lofty mountain of clustered bamboos

32. For them a demon with burning brands as if
Escaping from a piece of the dark night

33. The red she-camels circle them as if they are
The veins of the swollen spearmint

34. As if the blooming meadows around their homes
Are hungry wolves playing in every irrigated field

35. When they recover they shake noble heads
Naturally disposed to generosity before singing

36. Pelting them with red droplets which they reckon drinking
Are souls content, surrounding the fireplace

37. For them is a night-companion keeping still
By the fire, kindling it with kindling and twigs

38. The youth among them says to the keeper of his camels
Beware not to hobble it without the nose-pierced one

39. The excellent tall ones have passed as if they are
The mountain cliffs in the buttressed valley

40. After being united, the hand of kinship has split them
Like the splitting of joined planks violently sundered

41. The days have toppled them from their masses
As the rear of gifts are toppled

42. So who can straighten the curve or mend the separation
And take the doubts of fate in hand?

43. They have vanished in the path of supreme glory and have drunk
The cup of misery with their own hands like

44. Pebbles of ice pleased in the bitterness of floods one evening
The striking of solid, unyielding hail

45. Verily on the path of glory they rested, their graves were naught but
The protruding ribs of the outstretched ground

46. They were companions’ tales, but they became
Songs of the lonely and the ardent suitor

47. Damnation to you succession of stumblers
On the missteps of the fettered one!

48. Is each day a drop of your blood
Wiped by the claws of a gruesome feast?

49. Kings and brethren as if after them
In graves only five days filled

50. Pity! When they are recalled the heart descends in our breasts
Like the male goat in rut at kindled flames

51. I bid farewell, and if not for Arab custom
The drops of curdled milk would be less for you

52. Finest living you have never tasted
And you have not come but with agonizing spectacles

53. You have not found safety for a fearful one on earth
Nor shelter for an outcast in the land

54. You have not drunk except blood afterwards
And have not embraced except the charging steed

55. You have not looked except blindly afterwards
And have not suckled except a renewed enemy

56. After the tall from the family of Amer
To the whites, armors, horses and help

57. And the people of the red tents whose curtains
Drape over pillars, glory and firmly rooted honor

58. When they panic for a matter they rush their backs
To every lofty mountain of clustered bamboos

59. For them a demon with burning brands as if
Escaping from a piece of the dark night

60. The red she-camels circle them as if they are
The veins of the swollen spearmint

61. As if the blooming meadows around their homes
Are hungry wolves playing in every irrigated field

62. When they recover they shake noble heads
Naturally disposed to generosity before singing