1. As if when her steps receded,
A mute goat herder of the hills grazed the hillocks.

2. One of my nights passed for him,
Ways upon ways led to him after ways.

3. The night forced him to the cavity of soil,
In it the clamor of one alarmed and fearful.

4. With his palms he calls abundantly for soil,
Mixing collected and scattered.

5. He ascends its highest and descends its lowest,
To the sweat, with his teeth he does what he wills.

6. Until when the night removed its clothes from him,
In the morning he shakes off his moist shoulders.

7. As if he is a Copt girded
With its excess or wrapped up.

8. So he walked high-headed, obeying
The hump of the two firm mounts with the striking of music.

9. If he perceives any news he dispatches to it
An advance party shaking the ends of the roads

10. From two ears whose hearing he alerts
From stillness—movements that build up.

11. So he was startled by a forest preserving with it
Braids like the wicks of lamps.

12. With it he comes, a bare, disgraceful knight,
No shepherd of sheep nor camels.

13. He hurls at the shelters as a debauched master
Making similar what the man did not.

14. So they drew around him and he stepped forward leading them
And they struggled with intensity then struggled.

15. Until when her zeal almost bent his determination,
Resolution from him and permanence that did not cease.

16. So he walked in it a walk, going sideways,
Separate from the two mares, the closest of the first.

17. As if he is the son of a Persian, avoiding
The spear, a moderate stab with a sharpened blade.

18. He left them overthrown on their muzzles
Slipping away like a shooting star.

19. There they are after oh where and oh where, and for long
The stumbling, not the urine, flowed.

20. To the Minister al-Hasan I appealed for help against them
For refuge, rest, and lodging.

21. What refuge, rest, and lodging
For someone fearful or seeking safety, of hope?

22. The pillar of the King and where his pillars leaned
And his citadel, from the positions of sovereignty,

23. The sword of the Commander of the Faithful, sought out
And fortress of the two exalted, impregnable authorities

24. From a clan through whom God delivered us
And Islam was fixed after slips,

25. Of good origin, with branches for it
Two branches shaking in the corner of a mountain,

26. Protectors of the kingdom who together ward off
From the sanctity of religion and legacy of prophets,

27. I swear by God the greatest oath
By which the intense dark nights give way to the bright dawns,

28. Your word is the word that heals the blind
And your view is the view by which the incline stood upright.

29. You are the hand of the King by which
The Caliph of God prospers at the time of wavering,

30. And the plateau of religion, and helpers of guidance,
And protector of truth, and steeds of separation.

31. Bestowers of good when asked,
Bestowers of good when good is asked.

32. And kindlers of war at its extinction,
And its extinguishers when it casts flames.

33. Your forefathers, the honorable ancients, their origin
Khosrow Anu Shirwan who relate proverbs,

34. From every crowned one when they step forward
A step for what he desires, even if he says, “Act!”

35. Where then not where, and where are ones like you,
While you are the sovereigns and men are abased?