1. That royal abode lies deserted,
None of its people remain,

2. I knew it once, with horses wandering,
Its sun disc indistinct.

3. When their hooves climb a boulder
They leave it as if it were a ram

4. The realm—its wings widespread, but not
Ruffling the tips of its feathers.

5. The throng breaks away from it like the moon
Whose beauty is perfect, no defect.

6. It has taken into its hands a king
Seizing authority, though still green of youth.

7. And intimates who found their desires
Fulfilled, and were given what delighted their souls.

8. Pleasant was the greeting when I stood before them,
They were the nearest, greeting me as their own.

9. Then the last of that life went by.
Grief remains from what once gave joy.

10. Fortune buffets its people with a hand
That pierces them in every limb.

11. Do you not see a land where I dwelt
Aloft above the dwellings of its clan?

12. Its governors are Nabataean heretics
Filled with bellies—the people are weasels.

13. They have slaughterhouses where they butcher
Undeterred by ravagers.

14. Their swords hang idle,
Fabricated, their spears are plaster.

15. Their soldiers protect their subjects
While dancing on their livers.

16. Their treachery prevails over their good faith
And greed dominates their piety.

17. Their youths are in every shack
And they have rascals in every stead.

18. Their commander proceeds before them
Toward sacrilege, his course set.

19. When he appears, time is ransomed through him,
Amid the crowd it is as if he is a bully.

20. As though the wine is squeezed from his vineyards
Or snakes are culled from Afs.

21. You see people like clustered insects,
Deeming cheap prices to be profitable

22. When there is no bargain for a dirham.