1. O God, what passion illumined
A radiance in the constellations when it appeared

2. It seized us like the throbbing of the pulse and weakness
So when it crossed us it filled the sky

3. As if its glow were hands of lightning
Restoring clarity to its ships

4. I was disturbed by it until my companion said
For something that had stirred you, the lightning was a malady

5. Never before would it lead my gaze
Nor would my determination go where it willed

6. My two friends, leave me be, for I
Am most resolute among you on the intended course

7. My youthfulness refused me except to glance
At the beautiful maidens and to bend

8. So if you see me go ahead of you two
My heart remains behind

9. And how often in an hour have I detained
The tribe’s steeds, preventing their escape

10. Upon a hill like the mantle of a Yemeni
It erased and mingled with the sand

11. Desolate places where no birds alight
Nor a returning traveler startles the gazelles

12. Oh how it elegantly intoxicates me
With its silence and makes me weep in solitude

13. I call to the traveling group beyond you
Perhaps in it is a remedy for one who is sick

14. We shared reminiscence so we bent close
As if we had shared a poisoned drink

15. And we kneaded the bread to console ourselves
Singing to each other and amplifying the weeping

16. To what end is this frequenting of the drinking places
While the dawn of gray hair has illuminated me

17. So appearer of defects, it has watered a darkness
To cover over its ugliness

18. My youth, if you have done good one day
Old age has been unfair and done evil

19. And oh granter of bounty without account
One has come to me to limit my share

20. Goods we borrowed from the nights
And we hurried so we hastened the repayment

21. We resented fate, though had we been reasonable
Our resentment would not change fate

22. I will go on to that which has no defect
Even if I gain only difficulty from it

23. And I will seek a goal - if it eludes me
I am struck down in battle or ascent

24. I am the son of those who were foremost to the heights
When the great distance shortened the lagging

25. When they rode, the open spaces narrowed
And some of their gathering hampered the expanse

26. I sleep from refusing the injustice of sleep
Bestowing on me such haughtiness

27. We made people's morals pliant
With slack oaths and arrogance

28. And we are those who descend upon every frontier
Shedding blood upon its flanks

29. And we are the ones who plunge into every horror
When the coward wavers with it from adversity

30. And we are the ones who don for every glory
Armor or attire when we wish

31. We have set right by trials every matter
That refused except to be crooked and twisted

32. We drag behind us to the enemies a train
Like the expanse of night pursuing the banner

33. With it we extend the echo of the flashing swords
Until we deliver the thirsty blades to drink

34. When the foe is frenzied, mute, and deaf
And the blades have cast off their scabbards

35. A clamor from which souls recoil
Admitting no frenzy or comfort

36. Mountains from the cliffs of an-Naq`
Hurling rocks down eternally, morning or evening

37. And a backbiter devouring my flesh in my absence
Though his eating has a putrid sickness

38. He speaks ill when you are absent from him
And flatters me gracefully when we meet

39. I have prepared for him, and soon he will gulp down
A cupful of adversity that will fill him

40. And each of us, when humbled, is submissive
If you overcame him by abasing him

41. If his edge is blunted he sheathes his blades
And stands upon his legs refusing

42. And if called while forbearance guides him
He inclines with nobility to the caller in loyalty

43. And we refuse that half should be from us
Or to give our opponents equal footing

44. And if enmity were seemly among us
We would not be known by creation except as enemies