1. My breath complains to his lips of its burning heat
Yet in myself resides only despair's agony

2. My heart looks at him wounded by his gaze
But his cruel heart feels no tenderness for mine

3. The sword's wound has remedies to heal it
While for the wound of a glance I find no balm

4. If love decrees I live devoid of hope
Then I've severed all the ropes of expectation

5. If lovers like me are abandoned
Where in people’s hearts rests care for others?

6. And who feels compassion for the anguished soul
As though their hearts were forged upon hot embers?

7. I look upon varied tribes and clans
While kindreds are confused amidst their kinsmen

8. I find myself among a lazy tribe
As though roused from beneath their pillows' edges

9. Some have sunk into the pit of deep disgrace
Others wander lost ‘twixt cup and dicing cloth

10. Had one like Kulayb been there on his day of loss
Kulayb's spear thrust would have shamed Jassas' sword