1. Take sips from the burning embers of my heart, poured
From urns of sorrow that were cast by a pourer.

2. They were once plucked out with great effort
How then can they be now after the plucking?

3. My excuse from a sword whose clashing I hoped for
Is foes, ancient and recent, taking wing.

4. Then my hand failed me and it recoiled in flight
And so for my neck today became the first heir.

5. And from a mountain I made its rough passes
A deterrent to the seizing hands of calamities.

6. It slipped from me through a barber and debased me,
Abject in my saddles, from the backs of camels in rut.

7. And from a drinking place I brought out the water of its spring
To the highest hilltops and verdant meadows.

8. Today it is miserly towards me even with a mouthful
While it is wasted on the weeds and brambles.

9. Sustenance is preordained and cannot be attained
By the coolness of pace or the heat of haste.

10. You have aided the decrees against me perforce
And aimed into my heart the arrows of events.

11. You left me not, nor time, for it is more noble
In action than you in disasters.

12. Whoever seeks help from other than his own people
And ties his hand with the tempting hopes of vultures,

13. My calling the wolves of the valley is better fortune
Than me calling some of you for help.

14. If only I called on Banu Ghalib,
They would have saved me with prolonged spear-thrusts.

15. They surge down the valley of darkness as though they are
The surging waves of seas in constant motion.

16. They inspired me with resolve and bound for my victory
The firm binding of the trotting camel's saddle.

17. And they loosened my noose after it had been tightening
To throttle me with the hands of assailing foes.

18. You see their patience beneath the burdens flawless
And their pace between the spears unfailing,

19. No patience in one who is called from afar,
No resolve in one who is weak, or one who lingers.

20. And every blooded knight - if the touch of disaster weighs heavy -
Will leave its burden be, untroubled by it.

21. A hatred of my tribe, unceasing in its enmity,
The words of foes about me and the spittle of the spitting.

22. My friends are other than friends, and my near kin
Other than near kin, intimate and familiar.

23. You pronounced it an ignorance of pagan days
Blessed is he who does not end it unceasing!

24. So drag along the tails of disgrace and then dwindle
To the dwindling of the pure maid’s breaches.

25. Hopes in you are cut off and no hope remains
In the vile natures of those who bring harm.

26. You have become like the ruins of an abode in desolation
Which travelers pass by, not staying.

27. And how can I expect you to ward off troubles
When expecting you to ward off ruin has failed?

28. Fall like the fallen saddle, for your driving
Necks of the pacing camel to disgrace has lasted long.

29. So until when will I hide grievances while you
Rouse what is buried in them with investigations?

30. How many resentments do I internalize between me and you
And disregard the breaking of ties and estrangements?

31. When I fling aside one of your disgraces to block a gap
You become occupied with other issues.

32. I have seen the hawks humbled, withdrawn from the nest,
And the world is not a feeding ground save for the greedy.

33. No fortune in obtaining suspended, airborne provision,
No use in urging on the penetrating hopes.

34. I have left crevices between us to split them open
And do not suffer the pain of those grievances.

35. Increase them, for I will still have no lack after them,
And renew them, for I will still have no game after them.

36. Debts of resentment - if I remain silent I will repay you for them
And if I am infirm they will be inherited by my heirs.

37. If I forget a day blaming you, your actions
Remind me, for with me blaming is the strongest motivation.

38. If I am eased, what irks you will be quickened in me -
Stirrings of resentment towards you, fervent.

39. Whenever any disgrace is in you I overlook it
And dispute with you the tastes of those shameful things.

40. If I have not fastened to the honor of your people
The nails of the burning claws of the twisting scorpion

41. By God, I will not refrain save unceasingly
An incapacity to do good, not to do evil.

42. So that you may know the estrangement between us fully
And your guile as drawn-out as possible may irk you.

43. Peace be upon hopes in you - though the downpour
Of abundant rain has not watered their covenant!

44. You have taught me despair of every ambition
And inured me to patience in every affliction.

45. You have shown me how I might seek redemption
From hands other than those of the unjust tormenting.

46. My despair of you makes me humble before you
When I have not humbled myself to prolonged demands.

47. So thanks to Him who did not place provision with you,
Else no drink for a thirsty soul, no food for a deprived one.

48. If my morose nature has saddened you
Then long has it been useless to me in disasters.

49. Take them like the neck-rings of a dove, for they will remain
Remaining like milestones on the traveled roads.

50. Verses that drip grief, as though
Cast in the mold of parchment steeped in tears.

51. If we draw them out lengthily they will remain yours
Going out like one who discards and casts off.

52. So I have resolved I will not indulge the lowly
Even if forced under consuming pressures.

53. My sins, if I seek rain without a rain-giver at hand
And I sought rain with no aid at hand.