1. Unless it be a sword, its scabbard is
Made dear by the events of time, O ruthless one!

2. Or let it not be that my father Shabool is praised,
Whose claws are bloody, for he is the father of Shabool!

3. That cloud—its lightning was the gleam of its mole,
If days forgot aught but the fancied.

4. We were hoping to unveil its direction
From tender, tender foliage newly plucked.

5. Were it not for the seekers of the sword, its wood would leaf out.
Women spent the night bereft of husbands.

6. And the departed is sometimes wept for his own sake,
Or for greed in him and hopefulness.

7. Can it be that we are deluded by our days,
And prolong from a hope that to them is prolonged?

8. Is it by its refused downpour or its inexperienced bliss,
Or its postponed tryst?

9. We hope for survival as though we had not experienced
The ways of this devious world.

10. If other than the hand of time would chasten me
And cut short my means of livelihood and my tribe,

11. I would turn my side without humiliation
And drag my train from the abode of disgrace.

12. But the sultan of nights prevails
Over my resolve and cuts off my way for me.

13. Fate has willed, and the honourable bows to it out of awe—
The lowly one is not lowly before the Able!

14. And it is time that permits all prohibitions
And lessens the aspirations of each sublime one.

15. Among the wounded by the edges of its flaws,
Bleeding, and the ripped open, consumed,

16. It assaulted Jadhimah spitefully and transgressed
The saddlebags of Jadhimah, Malik and Aqeel.

17. And it brought down the shelters from their resting places,
So they became owners of cattle and long unruliness.

18. And it bid farewell at Hira
To all the dwelling places of Maqeel.

19. And it tyrannized the progeny of Caesar
Nations, so it held back from shed blood.

20. And it restored the hall of the Round City
Bare of the cold's splendid garb.

21. And it carried off its owners, and beneath them
Were the number of house slaves, and steeds.

22. And it dropped the crowns of emperors
From every polished and noisy sword.

23. Their parting left them bleeding, and long they knew
Musk atop them at night.

24. Or after they erected domes and authorized
In the shade of inaccessible abode a little shade,

25. Each conqueror reckoned his epoch
In glory and loftiness not transformable.

26. And thought that if death contended with him,
He would refuse, refusing the improbable.

27. Or if the West Bank of the Euphrates overflowed, he would push it back
Severed, and set straight the course of the Nile.

28. Fate descended on him, so he returned as if
Yesterday he had not hosted guest and friend.

29. Patience, noble Ali, for perhaps
The young man has patience but it is not noble.

30. If I knew that passion helps,
I would provoke you with sigh and anguish,

31. And make your suffering a momentous thing
To its task, instead of easing.

32. But these are the decrees—their rule passes
Always over the troubled and miserable.

33. And perhaps the young man smiles while his heart
Is a sunburst with ringing and wailing.

34. And perhaps the wise man endures, dissembling,
The severities of time with his spent smile.

35. And covers over those wounds as though
He has not been touched by a perished evening.