1. Do you see the dwellings of Hayy remain,
In Jiz'an, with tents still standing,

2. Or did the succession of days scatter them,
Or the depression of clouds?

3. What would the riders say
If they revived your heights with greetings

4. Or reported on Wajid
Who wrapped his ribs around passion?

5. An ailment I contacted through love
And I surpassed the peers of blame,

6. And I tasted from the drunkenness of youth
More maddened than the drunkenness of wine.

7. Days I look in the glances of
My cloak that looked like blood stains

8. And I walk as the leader of some youths
With dark braids and turbans.

9. Water-boy for times when
I was titled “the boy”.

10. I said to the caravan of pedigree
On the she-goats and the burrows,

11. “Away! For the sires may awaken
For the sleeping tribe.”

12. Tether the riding-beasts and mount them
From behind, permanently,

13. And leave their glances blind
In the turbid darkness.

14. Until you alight in the burning heat
Of rugged plains and highlands.

15. Possessor of all sovereignty, through it
He vacillates between pardon and vengeance.

16. I care not what is behind me
After I plunge ahead of me,

17. Like a lion seizing men
And does not attack cattle.

18. He lets the water-skins flow when he unsheathes,
And when he rages I water the hillsides.

19. The leader, the bare, distinguished
Warrior rolls in white turbans.

20. From each one with a whip-like nature,
Reined-in, curbed,

21. And marked by banners, he roars
Amongst the great crowds,

22. And authorized blessings of the body
And rivaling blessings of bodies.

23. Verily the steeds at the battle-grounds
Complain of prolonged turbans.

24. They glance with their eyes
To the Yemeni cities and Greater Syria.

25. They neigh from yearning
To traverse the deserts and plateaus,

26. Pricking up their ears, bounding
After rising for departure.

27. So collide with it the sides
Of the glorious, splendid mountains.

28. Bearing the lions of the jungles,
Who knotted their poles with banners,

29. Harmonizing themselves with them
As if their heads were ostrich plumes,

30. From every slender lively one,
The most redolent of bones,

31. Charging as if his forearm
Were the upright blade.

32. They set out at dawn
Battling the crowds,

33. Flaying violently
Like the streaming of cumulus clouds,

34. Until you lead, of things prohibited,
Every restrained thing by the halter.

35. Let not the arrow of your enemy,
Shot without intent, trick you.

36. The sucklings were crippled by it
Until they awoke from sweet sleep.

37. It is to him the cause of youth
While to us the cause of weaning.

38. How can the blind one
Aim at the high places with arrows!

39. Alas! For the hyenas to tread
The den of the resolute lion!

40. Where are the stars compared to pebbles!
Where the blossoms compared to pumice!

41. The morals of the ignoble prevailed
Over the vineyard of the fine ones among them.

42. So its blossoms melted away
And you were warned below it the slumbering informant.

43. He sought the Most High falteringly so he strayed
Straying in the darkness of night.

44. He bounds with it foolishly though
Your right hand holds the bridle.

45. O He who relieves grave distress
And remedies chronic disease!

46. You attained the ultimate wishes
And inherited the lifespans of mankind.

47. So submit to the rage of Time
And persist in spite of mourning doves,

48. And be gentle with transferring
One not transferred from this position,

49. Wearing out your life, which gives you
The knotted rope of obligation.

50. You still wear each promising year
The reaching of a year.

51. If something were everlasting
I would give good tidings to your kingdom of permanence!