1. You have precedent, clarity, and mystery
And a seer of what has faded from view

2. And emotions, if made lowly
From the masses, hasten

3. A lowered gaze, like the shallow pits followed
By resolve, rushing, leaving nothing nor allowing

4. A lion cub’s peers do not intimidate his ascent
Until the fang and claw determine his fate

5. You discipline the moods of clouds when
Its drops tighten around the drizzle

6. After its lightning has discharged within
And the quivering lightning edges its rain

7. And the most eloquent, the caravans wandered from its reach
The thyms of Canaan and bitterness commanded besides it

8. And the breath within the red glow, if concealed
By the intensity, the embers recline on its clamor

9. In throngs it did not stop guiding its early risers
Dawns from the progeny of land waiting

10. If any time in its disposition takes from you
What it does not allow save you, fate

11. So the white camels fasten, if traveling banished
With paleness what the brown cannot fasten

12. None braced for the arduous journey, determined,
Gripping reason, whom travel did not expel

13. So unleash the tethers of steads from their halters
Companion of star and darkness mantled

14. And loped between crevices of night, grayish,
What gait did it ease nor place did it bother

15. The snorts of camels return voice suppressing
And from their necks the worn ropes did rise

16. How many needs in place of stars its lengthened exposure
And breaths and open plains brought closer

17. Dawn’s knights asked us in the night a questioning
March, the effects of its pace the braids scattered

18. And a scene, like the edge of unsheathed sword, slipping,
The minds and thoughts stumble from its dusk

19. You stabbed its mouth with uncompromising argument
And others’ spears fail, unfamiliar and bound

20. On a morning the day’s sun rose over it
And the horizons dawned, turbaned

21. The gazelles frolicked in it and the brown’s
Instruments neared, confusing the peaks

22. You launched therein arrows not straying
Where the bow pierces the enemy’s gut

23. No humble garment dismissed you from the decree’s carrying
Nor sufficed you from piercing enmity’s guard

24. And you did not look upon days, considering,
Except the discerning gave you treasure’s store

25. And bless the striking spark, when you are in darkness
That neither flint nor tinder ignite

26. With your munificence is water entreated when not
Soothed by the black-eyed Houran girls

27. When you marched, horses marched evenly
Veering, and wind held its breath in their presence

28. If the ignorant, when you pat his brow
Judgment is the clarity and mystery muted

29. You opposed your age until its undoing shone
Depreciation was not vilified until victory endeared

30. Now excellent is the tilting of his crown
And excellent the praises of his days in bloom

31. Wealth capriciously seeks him and bestowal pursues it
Lavishness did not drain his honor and company

32. A leader refined the spears since discerning
The stabbing of enemies and repelling aggression

33. An army of guile advances without dust or
Vanguards guiding it nor warnings

34. How he passed the diversions of nightRooms between shifts awakened himhair risingHow horses sparked from their sheathes emberDust and habitation kindled from it
Repelling swords, tied and bundledUpon spears, wailing and moaningWhen he waved a blade in his fingersThe turbans and palaces rose embracing himA blade the ends sap lives in its spotsWhen the aided sheathed his lethal bladeThe shame that greets men’s necks with itThe day of war, and no shortage in its capacityWhen delegations called its edge to strikeIt obeyed, the plains tightening in its narrownessI asked the darkness, clouded, about his faceAbout him, does it vie that it is the moonMy soul ransom for a brother company did not defileWhen any clear water has turbidityI waver to none but honor perturbedNor rove save to nothing but heights and roleDo I excuse fate when its judgments were unjustThen my excuse is depraved when I offer itNear the son of the best father his fingers Rested on spear, walking in his palms the amputatedAnd how many feeble words I stayed up forSpilled to me from your speech the newsWhat is with my poetry that witnessedI boast by some pride in youO son of those who vie in our call to themOur voices quavering if our homelands spannedWhen we repeat a narrative from them Signs pass and chapters interveneHow many enemies, if you defied his stateHis hearing and seeing pretending obedienceYour kingdom had glory nurturing itUntil your staff failed you, spilling its pearlsHow many firewood gatherers a rope betrayedDebased, and snakes are the worst ropesAnd a sitting the worries, I think, know it notStaying awake on the dregs its wakefulness sippedWhen shadows gathered if siesta veiled itThe wilderness rushed in the garden’s peripheriesWater like the flexed forearm of blushing girlClutching necklaces on its blossomsYou drenched robes of goblets just as Dawn spilled onto its fringes yearningA nap in the sublime, glory befriends itAnd hair did not walk upon his cheek’s outskirtsInforming envoys upon his tripWhile water informs us of its wellspringI deny your glory complaints to itA mouth harmed syrup therein stinging and bitterWith apologies in an excuse, torn from it is veilAnd her marriage requirement was no demandedBrought to you, the litter’s drape carries herWith your acceptance, no dower for it increases