1. My aspirations and time are at odds
Yet we rise with hopes though endeavour lies dormant

2. Days pass us by, never to return
As torrents flowed over solid ice

3. And every difficulty prevents us accessing its water
While clouds deny us their excess rain

4. No weakness has ever marred my determination regarding my goals
Though everyday brings recurring anxieties

5. Anxieties that never elicit happiness
And find no rest upon pillows

6. God has a night that fills the heart with its terror
That disturbs even those asleep in their beds

7. My eyes long to see the land of Babylon
Where its songs are sung by charging steeds

8. And I draw its cold air into my lungs
When, if it wishes, minstrels sing its glories

9. We slipped through the darkness to steal their horses
As they were played with by their grooms

10. The stars cluster around the moon as if
It were a gift presented by new born slave girls

11. In people's eyes there is sadness from fate
While the spectre of ill fortune stands witness

12. One man tosses restless, another prostrate resigned
While a woman, wearied by sleep, is vexed by recurring worries

13. She leads steeds racing mile upon mile
Till even old camels doubt their endurance

14. When thirst parches their jaws the earth shrinks for them
And streams flow towards them from every direction

15. We searched for them, needing the excuse of distance
But she thought nothing of turning back with the boisterous camels

16. The abodes of Baid where the family spends its nights restlessly
When foxes and night itself are cold

17. We attacked the fearsome darkness and its expanse
Where no winds blow through it violently

18. Shall I unleash the steeds of passion to seek love
Though cheeks are deemed its quarry

19. I am busy searching for one who has lost his way
Asking fate what Destiny will dictate

20. I say to Time, confused when it has snared a lion
That lions, too, are hunted, even when asleep

21. One has gashed this branch by beating it
Another has shaken this towering tree by climbing it

22. So do not despair, not every calamity approaches
Nor does every misfortune recur

23. A man attains from fate what his soul dictates
And stratagems come according to the status of men

24. Your glory, O Pinnacle of Heights, ransoms
The actions of a coward motivated by grudges

25. Neither swords nor spears have spared you
Nor has poetry robbed you of its necklaces

26. You are deposed but not from favours
Your generosity evident through your features

27. By your face the water of honour remains undiluted when deposed
While the face of your replacement is frozen

28. You hope for rule while it declines
Without executioner or bloodshed

29. So let not enemies rejoice, removal is temporary
When one delegate leaves, another arrives

30. You were but a sword whose edge is sharp
And the righteous are not helped by those who do not fight

31. You practised truth until you returned it
Silent, while only the treacherous spoke against it

32. He seeks help and support through others than God
While the Merciful and glory are your aides

33. You criticise the Lord of Goodness through me; my bones
Unless those bones are guarded beyond all else

34. But he saw insulting the Prophet as a prize
Since none surrounded him except the doubtful and ungrateful

35. Had he been of the Fatimids, glory upon him
Tempests, camels, and arms would have prevailed

36. Indeed with you barren clemency is fertile
And with you derelict glory finds a conduit

37. You wearied of the exalted, choosing isolation from them
As if you had sapped your palms of their praises

38. Leaving a desolate land bereft of you
Assailed from within itself, importuning you

39. Spears will remember you as they become lances
Though they now have only hearts as their repositories

40. Glory resides in you, O Qais Bin Aylan, ever glorious
Sublime, with none to envy you

41. A man who withstands your spears as he brandishes his own
And walks armies towards you when alone

42. On the day of Uwaith, swords shining
As Death and the heathen lord remain firm

43. You repelled them, with horses between them
Reining in death though it was on the loose

44. You created among them wakeful, insightful eyes
That sleep the night away while remaining alert

45. Their life spans are preserved for their swords
So most fitting, as war remains chaste and untried

46. I saw thoroughbreds demanding their exertion
While the horses themselves yearn for rest

47. Long distances they cover till they complete them
With none but the willing horse pursuing glory

48. Excellent is your resolve, and its commitment
When the wise and hardened warrior makes his judgement

49. Are you not of those people, when they rule
Even the grandest of crowns is considered too small

50. Their whips are white like antelope and their prisons,
When angered, are but for the atheistic

51. The necks of enemies and Christians are in their midst humiliated
While the whites are adorned with necklaces

52. Birds of all hues nest in their chambers
As the houses of nomads are held stationary

53. What father is like the son of Musa for offspring
When men of rank increase in multitudes

54. He protected pilgrims and assumed full command
Though the young nomads had become numerous

55. So he turned, with worldly power pulling and pushing
While others beckoned him to glory and ancestry

56. His brother aided him the day his stirrups steadied
Saying, “kinship is excellent in lending support”

57. Both showed patience as truth sits upon its head
In evening, when branches shake the trunk

58. He detached from family for the exalted
As each guided him to glory and prestige

59. Hopes vary in their fruits
When irrigated by one water and stream

60. He pitched his great abode’s tent pegs
Upon Al-Jawza, frequented by beasts and sleepers

61. Needy of lightning fires, arrayed
And thirsty for rain clouds, arriving

62. Is not the land most deserving with misery
When lightning flashes from its furthest horizons

63. It is as if I see him, worries assuaged by honour
As those calamities yield, so often perilous

64. God returned to him the joy of days passed
As the nights came back white and glorious

65. You yearn with desire whose sword spills tears
When polished by keeping treaties

66. O House of Hudhaym, do your hearts find peace
While the heart of the Son of Adnan remains restless against fate

67. Should they deny your favours, their necks will bend
To your blessings, adorned with necklaces

68. Still swords take their women prisoner
While your poetry takes the jewels of speech prisoner