1. These spears are the staves of the lost and peacemakers too,
Were it not for their piercing of opinions and resolves.

2. Indeed the pens and swords are gifts,
To the kings of Arabs and non-Arabs alike.

3. Swords cannot make pens redundant,
Battle is for the sword, destiny for the pen.

4. Like a star whose tails have spread,
With the fire's hearth heating it to a glow.

5. Or like a brave lion after slumber,
Lolling a tongue like an old wineskin's nozzle.

6. Two neighing stallions only gathered for an arena,
Patient with events, tolerant of pain.

7. For Hashim there are treasures offered to questioners,
Nobility glimpsed in the folds of valor and generosity.

8. And the register murmured in the heart's depth but no
Concealed shame oozed out except what was blamed.

9. And dawn's lightning hid the burning of its page
From the watchmen's eyes or gushed out blood.

10. And the tribe grew lean, their palms were forced
To beg, though cleansed of any sin or stumble.

11. And seeking bounty from the living's honorees became rare
Until the day of slaughter arrived, abode of annihilation.

12. Every embracive she-camel, a palm caressed her
Becoming in the morning a hand touching cooked meat and bone.

13. Vegetation cried out until from leanness
Their prickly vegetation cried out resolve and determination.

14. They were clouds whose burdens
Pelted fighters like a furious, pounding catapult.

15. When the stomachs rumbled and who could match their bellow?
Who can compare sheep and goats?

16. A world smiling at my life yet bitter as bile -
I frown at it, smiling with hidden sorrow.

17. Like wine - the taster sullen over dregs
Yet the cup makes its rim beam a smile.

18. Earnestness needs no entertaining song,
Jest lurks in melody and tune.

19. Ibn Ghil's rising star doesn't broadcast his death
When wrathfully he gazes from the horizon.

20. Dawn's darkness flees from his smiling dawn
Smooth as a polished sword's pummel.

21. One day I'll be taken in a swirling melee,
Barren and well-known for ravens and ruins.

22. And today the smashing of lances and neighing of steeds
Announced war, as Allah's horses approached sanctity.

23. When the superior ones attacked their mouths
The blades shed blood flowing over spear shafts.

24. Stabbing takes souls straight from bodies
While slashing denies even scraps to the peaks.

25. Oh, how many nights whose coals were like fire
With even the distant deaf hearing the dog.

26. Sleepless, hopes ascending my thoughts
Until from my worry emerged my aspirations.

27. I watch the guest pasturing his mare
While between us looms a towering darkness.

28. The gloom whispered to dawn that a gallant
Had traveled, not fooled by dreams' delight.

29. Atop a beautiful steed whose bridle proceeded in a line
Nearly outstripping it in lightness of step.

30. My chest's stirrup - if the fearsome one shouts to it
Over earnest souls in bodies most handsome.

31. A letter followed me in every unknown
As if I rode it like a flag.

32. It throws the cowardly dead in its paths
With the true aims as ransom for their souls.

33. Whenever its side feels the whip's touch
It bounds like a gazelle freed of its tether.

34. Reining it in when righteousness meets
A turbulent sea in strong hands churning.

35. Impetuous when did it ever turn
To pain from whips or care for wounds?

36. When I pull the lead to recall the ride
It's as if the oaths themselves tugged it insistently.

37. What do fate and days demand of a man
Who seeks refuge in praise, to protect the blessings?

38. When hopes require him to fulfill some promise
He veils the lack with the cloak of gifts.

39. If I exposed the unseen's veil, the glances
Of every doubtful gazer would be shamed.

40. It's enough that my slanderer, I was patient with him
So he sought excuse and was shy of sanctity.

41. My probity is chaste - if another's libertine ways
His garment's stitches would be blamed.

42. I am Zuheir - who is there for me in your time
With some of what was accomplished by two white-haired hands?

43. If an enemy disobeyed me, he feared my hand's blow
And his honor is safe from the emigrants of my mouth.

44. I made my hearing forbidden to wicked words
So what shamelessness approaches sanctity?

45. My nose almost folds away in humility
Donning arrogance's robe.

46. My grandfather the Prophet, and my mother his daughter,
My father his successor, my ancestors the best of nations.

47. For our aims every dancing impetuous she-camel writhes,
Pounding the rock and stone of the desert.

48. With each disheveled one mending his shirt's tatters, when
He persevered the best of attributes were diminished.

49. For us is the abode and Allah's house his lodging,
Fixed in glory, towering, supported.

50. And my birthplace - pure of garments, you would think me born
In that sanctum, that inviolable precinct.