1. The fate of the clan and my restless nights
And worries lie in wait for me and my lonely abode

2. Without illness that made me frail, yet some worries
Have stricken, I feel, and seized my heart

3. And of events, I care not that I am
Struck down upon this earth with misfortunes

4. I cannot find my way in it to a place of refuge
Between Iraq and the land of Murad

5. And certainly I knew, apart from what you told me
That the path is the path of one beset with calamities

6. Verily death and misfortunes both
Fulfill their pledge, climbing my darkness

7. They will not be pleased with me unless
I ransom myself, my freshness and offspring

8. What can I hope for after the kin of Muharraq
Who left their dwellings and after their hands' work

9. The people of Khawarnaq, Sudair and Baraq
And the palace with the honorable chambers from Sindad

10. A land they chose for their father's abode
Ka'b bin Zuhair and son of Umm Du'ad

11. The winds blew upon the place of their dwellings
As though they were there for an appointed time

12. And they sang in it with the most pleasant living
In the shade of established kingship

13. They dwelled in Anqarah with Euphrates' water
Flowing upon them coming from springs

14. Where are those who built, so long their building lasted,
And enjoyed family and children?

15. Lo, luxury and all they were diverted by
One day turns into decay and depletion

16. In the clan of Gharaf, if you wished me sorrow
You would find in them the example of counters

17. After Zayd among the damsels they were separated
Killed and exiled after fair accord

18. So they chose the open land for their glory
With its streams increasing over meadows

19. Do you not see me, I am worn out and it saddened me
What I gained from my sight and skin

20. And I disobeyed the hoodwinkers and youth
And obeyed my blamer though pliant her rein

21. And I would go to the merchants stumbling
Debased in my money, submissive my steeds

22. And I sported, and for youth is sweetness
With fine wine mixed with water from streams

23. Wine whose buds inspired speech
And for dirhams it presented carpets

24. With it, one with curled locks exerted effort
His fingers calloused from knocking on doors

25. And the white ones walked like moons and like statues
And delicate ones walked with a gentle gait

26. And the white ones cast hearts as if they
Were a flock between battle and inanimate nature

27. They speak softly and they are delicate
White of face, tender of liver

28. They speak in hushed whispers, voices lowered
And so attained what they attempted without calling out

29. And I frequented a dissolute bachelor
Who twisted his mustache, pliant his visitors

30. His bracelets generous and his cloak scented
With wafts of yellow and grey

31. At midday, around a daredevil, the dead
So, with his sheath, short spear and horses

32. With a turbaned one, his tightening at preparation
Binding the ropes and wagering his steed

33. He grills for us the fatling slaughtered in his presence
A cooking between tightening and letting loose

34. And I followed those madly in love in a night
I found the emigration of hawks mute rocks

35. A caravan whom spring obstructed their maintenance
With them the resting place of caravans is not clear

36. And when that has no end to its mention
And fate makes righteousness follow corruption