1. I see Salma turn away though we sought her not,
And we wished for naught but her embrace.

2. She was miserly with her glances towards us,
Had she been generous we would have praised her.

3. She was sparing of her promises, and changed
From the troth we knew, to what we knew not.

4. If Salma but knew what I have endured,
She would inform me, and learn what we found.

5. The distances of the abode torment me,
When we sleep, yearning keeps us awake.

6. Have you not seen, when we turned away,
Matters crumbling, our resolve broken?

7. We saw the cleft when it gaped over them,
And many a breach like it we have patched.

8. When fear departs those who harbor it,
And we build the greatest ramparts for them.

9. We left the tyrant frail, the rebel violent,
The maker of strife and corruption we removed.

10. So forget not our abodes, for when
The sinful return, we shall come back.

11. Nor will the fortunes of those we forced, wane,
Nor will the misfortune of those we threatened, be mended.

12. Oh you who will meet Hisham, say to him:
We did not seek calamity, nor did we flee from it.

13. We did not divulge our secrets to the Caliphs,
Nor did we delay if we were present and called.

14. Was not calamity our recompense,
So we are rewarded with favors or envied?

15. Kings saw rights upon our arriving envoys,
We were honored if we came, we hosted if they came.

16. We led the people for ages long,
We protected them, guided them, and lit their paths.

17. Your father did right by us,
His great affair brought us fortune.

18. So too the first Caliphs,
Were earnest with us, as we were earnest with them.

19. They are our fathers, and their sons are ours,
Molded for us, as we were molded for them.

20. We shun with enmity those who wronged us,
And befriend with affection those who befriended us.

21. We see rights upon us for our petitioners,
So we love them and give abundantly if we promise.

22. We guarantee our neighbor, seeing him as ours,
So we give generously if he gives generously.

23. We covet no wealth beyond glory,
If we are munificent we gain more to give.

24. Our glory is engendered, for we are generous,
We were shielded from baseness by noble lineage.