1. The love of the exalted preoccupies a heart that has no preoccupation,
And the affliction of passion in it is blame and separation.

2. She said you're stingy, so I said longing brings us together,
And fervor perspires what illnesses do not perspire.

3. And if my body leans, though I did not know it,
The spear calls out for a while, then straightens.

4. How to get rid of an eye that is attracted to the slender ones,
And of a heart in which there is madness?

5. And who will rein my fervor, so that greed leads me
To the beloved, and the ruins free me?

6. Do not distance our camels that carried
Those slender beauties, their plaits untied.

7. Under the domes is chastity in their robes,
And propriety preserves what anklets do not preserve.

8. So neither the sedan nor the face of its occupant is seen,
Nor do the slender she-camels sense the voice of the lover.

9. And in the veils are gazelles bred
Who glance at us with eyes whose starch is kohl.

10. When the beautiful carry ornaments as weapons,
Their ornaments are generosity and amulets.

11. But union is naught but a specter that keeps me awake,
And no messages but white paper and night.

12. And the habit of yearning is constant with me,
A frightened heart, a weeping eye pouring down.

13. The most anguished of people is he whose loved ones turned away,
With no embrace, no hug, no kiss.

14. I have no supporter if they are unjust but my tears,
And tears are an aid to him who is at the end of his wits.

15. Blame is the heaviest burden on an ear,
Yet it is light for the blamer if he blames.

16. Who will bring me good news followed by rain?
And how can I have reproach after which is embarrassment?

17. The soul is the nearest enemy you must beware,
And the heart is the greatest that wears out the man.

18. Love is what its pleasures are free of,
Not what worries and illnesses embitter.

19. Sleep has accustomed my eye to leave it,
And the gentle, easy pace has eased my journey.

20. So no abode or country has allured me,
I am the sword, and the sword has no scabbard.

21. The night carries my back that you ride,
Surely the morn is a wink, and the darkness a camel.

22. Youth has passed, and this white hair chases it away,
The fugitive ransoms the stringent pursuer.

23. White hair settles on my head not as a guest
Leaving me, though I know I am leaving it.

24. He who is not warned by the whiteness of hair will overtake him,
In folly, his fate and term catch him.

25. He who has missed the arrows of death, long years fetter him,
So he has no frivolity or youth.

26. And from himself has narrowed what was capacious,
Even hope, resolve, and aspiration.

27. Never did my chastity prevent me from passion one day,
That my palm would be chaste from the bending staff.

28. And men have sayings, and the best of them
Is what spending refines, not what stinginess refines.

29. Nor did plunging into raids save me from death,
Neither caution nor haste.

30. And my death in determination and kinship is one,
When destinations and paths are equal.

31. My sight feels delighted the day I mount it,
As if it is wearing the stars of the night.

32. And horses hint what is above their backs
Of men, whether coward or hero.

33. Deepest dark the color of night is his color,
Glances and gazes go astray in his creation.

34. Galloping with the wind holding his rein,
As if he is an ember or lightning flash.

35. Brief is what is between his beginning and his end,
As if his neck is tied with a knot to his throat.

36. When the spring clothes the white land with its robe,
My stirrups and the earth’s expanse and hills narrow.

37. And the waters of the valley flowing abundantly,
On its banks foxgloves and droplets.

38. And its plains when the sun of day sets
And sheds its color, like frontiers.

39. A meadow and pasture, if his hooves desire,
Brought together, with no trouble or toil.

40. Oblivious to the supreme, their leader
In every valley a rash youth made drunk.

41. They eschewed gray hair fearing its reproof,
Or its alienating them from youth.

42. Bare except for indecency, their garb of ignorance shrouds them,
No robes or gowns cover them.

43. A people deaf to my words, on them is deafness,
And blind to my sight, on them is blindness.

44. They scatter when I come near their glances
Like the startled, confused and perplexed.

45. They show me affection and guard me with their wealth,
If it were true, fortune would be equal between us.

46. It's enough for my envious enemies that he is a man
Whom anxiety has tempted since contention tempted me.

47. Why is my poetry blamed, it does not neglect
All that words and deeds require?

48. I have no need of wealth to worship it,
For it hope and work weary me.

49. Enough is the wealth of my enduring soul, and all wealth
From spoils and possessions passes on.

50. People changed in hearing and in sight,
And betrayal was deemed good until loyalty was deemed defective.

51. So do not seek out a man to befriend
Whom all people do not desire any more than a fool.

52. They are gladdened when their bodies are healthy,
And if you examine their minds, defects.

53. Only enmity rouses me, and I am to it
The heaven whose ground is the hills.

54. My sword walks in their heads,
And my spear pierces what coats of mail protect.

55. My people are people, not an equal generation,
Generosity with them is shameful if they are asked.

56. My father is the executor, and my mother the best mother,
The daughter of the Messenger, after whom there were no messengers.

57. And where is a people like my people, if you ask them
About the racers on the day of battle, they descend,

58. Like the rock, if they are forbearing, and the fire, if enraged,
And the lion, if they ride, and affliction, if they give.

59. The assailants of the tyrant, his death
Their lowered spear points trailing.

60. And the riders of horses and steeds together,
Neither figure restrains them one day, nor mind.

61. The eyes of enemies are blinded by their spears,
And for tongues among them eyes of youths.

62. There is no return to the world by agreement,
Nor return for him who passes away with his term.

63. And God is the most gracious Master I hope for
One day, and the Greatest Giver and Asked.

64. Pardoning, Forbearing, Benevolent, Capable,
Answering prayers, Giving, Forbearing.

65. And how can we hope that life remains for us
When our early days do not come back?