1. My friend, Umm Al-Hakim endured
And pitched her tents in the shade of Ukadh

2. So do not water me after her
With freshest drops though spring rains pour them

3. You graced the palace, but at dusk one day
Departed, leaving your beauty behind

4. And in the morn the happy ones who lodged with you
Complain, and speak of nothing but your loss

5. Now you are scattered, with no thought of reunion
And earth itself makes no lament for your usurpation

6. When you desire, the deserted dwellings
Will weep for your pride one day, or reminisce your habitation

7. Will he whom love destroyed, and endless care,
Awake one morn, his passion turned to loathing?

8. What joys in things, when joys those things denied
Return no more for all a man's beholding?

9. Though life began for us in happiness
Secure those blessings, we now fear their fleeting

10. A loved one, if estrangement change her heart
Will pine until she finds her love completing

11. Nor will forget the grace young woman showed
Bearing the cold, wrapped in her cloak, repeating

12. The sandals that I wore to shield her feet
Had I but law, not love, for my entreaty

13. When, climbing the steep pass, she tired and slipped
My stave kept close the herd that lagged in greeting

14. I grieved like a bereft gazelle to see
A litter passing, carrying her from me

15. I thought of you; my heart its ardour proved
Nor stilled its love for you, nor wished reprieve

16. The bowl came round to me in time's rotation
And you took it when thirst and cold might grieve

17. A host that filled the valley slopes, their tents
Seemed browsing gazelles, their lances trees

18. Their circle met at dusk and dawn's first ray
Hope's goal, which earnest souls desire and seize

19. As lamps within some hermit's mansion, lit
With wicks trimmed bright and cups filled full of ghee

20. Treading the skirt of Abqar's platform there
Or brushing hems so shoes just graze and flea

21. The lords of divans, favours yet unused,
Choice gifts for backs and left hands too to please

22. They hail Buhlul whose Lord gave back to him
Glory and beauty when he sought release

23. With musk his braided locks are dressed; thereby
The scent flows down through his viceregal sleeves

24. Succession his when others hoped to steal
By force of arms the Caliphate and seize

25. No love, no favour made them leave their task,
But honour, which they knew to recognize

26. This is the man who good for good repays
And ties his sandals, having sought advice

27. They tested him, and trusted him as Regent
After his discipline had filled the land

28. Horse troops still covering it, day after day
Opposing arms, the hollows and the height

29. Now driving back the foe in Rauha's plain
Now Wadi Rida's pasture-ground in fight

30. They camp at Bazwa, motionless the troops
While camels lift their loads and wander free

31. And earth meets treading hooves that imprint deep
At forenoon by the water-pools and lea

32. They charge with sturdy, long-necked breed
None can repel, however hard they try

33. Obeying when you said "Mount, in God's name"
Content to grasp an Ardoni's stirrup-tie

34. If the foe bring armoured horses, flames that lick
Swords bared and raised, their lightning flashing nigh

35. You charge the infidels' wild surging throng
That march in step with shields that terrify

36. As lions guarding the Hijaz troops, as though
Their threatening growls would keep all help defy

37. In their dread coats of mail the warriors clasp
Their victim and allow no place to fly

38. You saw death harvesting, so be resigned
Set not your mind against it, heed its cry

39. In war, when foes rouse battle's dangerous mood
And changeful chance makes brave men fall and die

40. You reached their shrouds and overwhelmed the embalmers
With mortal blows and blood to terrify

41. The day of glory that no night outlasts
Whose dawning makes the nursing mothers fly

42. The russet horse a lightning flash, his back
Marked bright, though eyes may weary and wish to deny

43. You raced him on until you met the foe,
Then Sibri's blade shore through their ranks, laid low

44. And when some headstrong tribe attacked, you loosed
Abu-1-Walid's arrows on the flying row

45. You rose ambitious to the highest goal
While only noble spirits may climb so high

46. Your hand grasped glory completely, though before
Men's hands fell short, and could not satisfy

47. An impregnable fortress of Ibn al-'Asi
Which al Mufaddal has described in his own style

48. The weak man staggers beneath his comrade's load
While the most piercing sight endures denial

49. A blackened griddle, safe within the tents
If strangers neared, would meet them with denial

50. I stilled my tongue, content with what her ears
Could follow, though she first showed shy denial

51. I blew on her softly, eloquently, till
She understood that breath meant no denial

52. I stole her, where honour guided, to my hand
When she was reconciled and put off denial

53. I was a man who did great favours once
And others have their generous deeds, longtime

54. I swear no special group of men I know
But you surpass the choice of their design

55. No thought of them disturbs me now, though they
Were prospered once, before misfortune's sign

56. Ungrateful be not for Marwan's lavished gifts
'Abd Shams' descendants; bless their high design

57. Your father saved the dome of power, when men
Had lost their footing and affairs declined

58. This death in life brings sorrow; death itself were better.
Is death not sweet, that finds no life resign?

59. God grant no highborn drink this cup. They are swords
The smith, in days gone by, has hammered fine.

60. God guard the eye that watches over a band
Who for their people's rights fight and outshine.

61. The Caliph it was raided the allies
Hidden in my advice, and made them mine

62. I make a claim; I say companionship
And binding pledges have not ceased their sign

63. Do not proclaim me now rebellious, if
I shun the faction whose caprice incline

64. No enemy, no friend whose counsel halts,
And where truth beckons, shows a life supine

65. He shone with joy to greet me when I came,
His limbs gained youth, his scented wood entwine

66. The freshest droplets of spring rain renewed their connection
Through the branches that bring those prized pearls to the vine