1. Where the sands have gathered
A gazelle whose habit is yearning

2. Moving on to the trysts
With no refusal or stinginess

3. And if he confesses to despair
My resolve refuses to submit

4. If rejection has made me despair
Expectation has made me covet

5. He has two eyes that gaze kindly on one
Whose eyes to others are aloof

6. To him they bestow life
Or administer death

7. Are you safe from those who slander
To whom the camels are hobbled?

8. As the dusk spread its glow
Or the early dawn gleamed

9. The darkness of night departed from it
And the stars twinkled around it

10. In it are the moist, dewy branches
And the dry, withered branches

11. Oh how many glances shine upon us
The bright eyes of the young men

12. And the abodes of love make us dizzy
Whether they journey or settle

13. The neighbor, when he is sung to
The neighbor, when he is abandoned

14. We have cast off the obedience of love
No pact, no intimate friend

15. When ignorance is of no use
It is reason that harms

16. So you will see me one day
Tested by what tests

17. Wrestling with fate
Overpowering it as it overpowers

18. I avoided the thorns with my shoes
But the shoes lacerated my feet

19. I am weighed down by burdens
When the load grows heavy

20. And I pace the gait of the insolent
So the load does not burden him

21. The living can be brought to ruin
Though there is eggs and chicks

22. And the lone man can be victorious
With neither money nor family

23. The large numbers are defeated
And the few refuse

24. My friends in Baghdad
The sands have reaped your bounty

25. And the stagnant swamps have prevented
Our meeting

26. I was so afraid our bond would break
And our kinship would crack

27. But I shepherded the land
When the greens were good for me

28. And I hurried the moving
When the blight and sterility spread

29. He whom a verdant place made comfortable
A barren place made desolate

30. No shame to the defeated
That registers have vanquished him

31. My regret over the worries
That watered your desert

32. I greet you with its fresh radiance
Newly green, lush

33. I remembered you while the tears
Neither flowed nor ceased

34. No neighbor of yours has reneged
Of those who share your settlement

35. There are things in life that console
But where is that which consoles?

36. The shining heart and the sharp sword
Refused obedience to oppression

37. And I am from a people
Too proud when subdued

38. If I return to oppression
There is no breadth or plain

39. And if I avoid glory
Humility will not diminish me

40. It is the wilderness, the darkness
The she-camel and the saddlebags

41. Buying death through glory
By selling oppression is no injustice

42. And surely the rugged side
Is smoother for me than the easy side