1. They broke their word though we met as comrades,
And oft did they promise my trusting heart but fail.

2. Little they reck that they gave no cup to slake me,
Though they promised rivers of wine that should never fail.

3. Each day a bane then a burning sigh
For the line of a camp, or a halted steed.

4. A tribe, their necks bowed in the drowsy air,
Obeying the zephyr's urge and the plead.

5. Some stoop, hearts gripped in the hand of longing,
Others topsyturvy and distraught.

6. Others still, tears pursue their sighs
Till the shaking ribs seem ready to snap.

7. Spend the day pining, night in the tribe,
The heart fluttering, pulsing in fright,

8. Nothing avails till we meet again
And the Grim Tyrant's caprice unite.

9. As though the nights conspired together
To grant no wished-for union and delight

10. Till in the dark engulfed, thought wanders
To hosts noisy with zeal for the fight,

11. Clamoring and tumbling in chaos
For one rash drink of death's bitter cup

12. Others whom sleep weighs on their eyelids
As though drunkards' hands were trembling and numb

13. Vagabonds knowing naught of the countryside,
Caring naught how the cultured fare,

14. Sparks aspiring if lightning took them,
Taking aim if they saw hawks in air.

15. Shunning the safe shore for the fraught,
Seeking the dangerous, shunning the tame.

16. O bitter halt where we turned to part,
Did your waving grove give a sign?

17. O did my love with a tender look
Hint though the troop trotted on as if lame?

18. Evenings when eager gaze met gaze
And tears flowed free and men kissed.

19. God spare the reveling rake full of song
And the wanton number full of sins.

20. One asks of me as though I never trod
Her tribe, while the day for war drums is ripe.

21. If unknown to her for love's sick pain
I am best known for my worth by another.

22. Marvel not that grief has mastered me,
For passion saps me though I am strong.

23. I am summoned by name to ride then returned
To serve my belle by a heart held in thrall.

24. Ask me why I haunt the lands of delight
While the steed of mischief curbs me with his rein.

25. Ask me why I flinch not from injury
Though the past is flawed and the scar still hurts.

26. Ask me why I hone not my trophied blade
That tells of my day, my star flashed and serf.

27. By what villager's hovels my thoroughbred passed,
My lordly chest pushing through the throng.

28. Ask me why I have not slaked my thirst
Though stirrup cups passed and did pass along.

29. On each saddlebag a line of pure stock
On each damsel a veil or a shawl.

30. The evening's potion is poured and the dregs
Are bitter gall that sears as it falls.

31. On each warrior glory and purpose shine
On each winsome maid a skirt and a scarf.

32. Hear the ringing neighs and you understand
Whose soft voice summoned the echoing vale.

33. Ours is the state where justice prevails,
Where wrongs are redressed and never deferred.

34. None hear the oppressed, none hear the cry
Of the victim seeking justice, his plaint unheard.

35. Greatest of men in East and West are we,
Noblest of sight upon earth's broad flank.

36. Sons of the open-handed, sons of dew
Of liberal hand makes vows of the mean shrink.

37. Each hailer of peace is exalted in rank,
Each gazer enraptured as though at a shrine.

38. White smiling it seems as if his brow
Were ray of moonlight or lightning's shine.

39. Raise the cloak of humiliation, still you will know
No coward's mantle can make his glories fade.

40. For us the luminous brows that rise
When nations crouch, abased and afraid.

41. Our father revealed his sword and its edge
At Siffin till Hind's son was prone.

42. Before that, Badr and thicker frays
In each a mighty feat was shown.

43. We inherited the Prophet's sublime renown,
We the Precinct's honor and grace.

44. Some say our heritage was but
Staff streaked with honey or perfumed cloth.

45. They wish our hands to them were thrown
Who doctored faith and made themselves its face.

46. This humblest father you see
First in glory, last in the race,

47. Who reconciles the kings when enraged
And murder is writ on each hardened face.

48. If he says, stop wrath, let calm thoughts rule,
They halt though churning with ire inside.

49. If he says, peace, don't push things too far,
Their heads bow though their hearts swell with pride.

50. Only yesterday, their sovereign prayed
While turned from him in hatred and doubt.

51. He tended him gently until the rancor faded
And smiling came after the storm and the shout.

52. The Lord's Regent he was, his deeds healing
The royal treasure, graceful and deft.

53. Till Uqbah's whisperings bred secret treason,
Offering the rope of betrayal to cleft.

54. He turned his shoulder, abandoning them
To the lance's point and the sword's thirst.

55. Had it been other they had sought his grace
And had not spurned it and been the first.

56. Summoning Mudar, its protection he vowed.
The helpless fell and slept as if drunk

57. He flooded it, peace and by force, a torrent
Leaving the white stars thirsty, forlorn, sunk.

58. Scenes of his glory at Minna ever live,
Signposts for time and for night's dark gate.

59. Deeds not those alone by which towers are raised
High over men by will or by fate.

60. Their clamor for power he turned into shame
Though over them regal brows frowned.

61. Reins once his, another would find them jerked
And himself deep in humiliation drowned.

62. My deeds pace his though I follow behind
To time's furthest edge sustained, secure.

63. But for respect I would make him regret
Though not from weakness do I abstain.

64. I put away plenty, reducing it
To what an ascetic would see fit.

65. I hoped to rise light to the most high
If you too would rise, make yourself light.

66. I swear by the firm-necked steeds, their flanks flecked with blood,
That carried the pure when all fled the fight.

67. I will hazard my soul to save it
While others are shackled in chains of disgrace.

68. Long the chance for great deeds slipped away
While the longing soul still longing pined.

69. My poetry's rhymes, I was never enthralled
By forms borrowed freely or slaves of their time.

70. I am the stalwart knight who ventures them boldly
With each innovator following behind.