1. Alas! Does my heart aspire today to what is past and gone?
Does the life we led return which fled away?

2. Will days like those we spent in luxury come back to us,
Or the life of tents return again?

3. As though no poverty had been our neighbor, nor had we endured
By grace of luxury when you enjoyed life.

4. After intimacy I was changed into displeasure,
And became an embrace, and fingers reached out to you.

5. And every pair of friends will be separated one day
By absence, and will be distressed by parting.

6. By my life, passion has stirred tumult in me
With a wind that eats away rocks and uproots trees.

7. In it are traces of homes in ruins and humble tents
Wherein women wail loudly for their absent ones.

8. And I remained patiently, though Remim did not know
That cares, like debts, were stifling me.

9. I remember the days of youth that are gone,
When we enjoyed ourselves and did not fear parting.

10. My family is friendly even if I oppose them,
And if I desert them they are compliant.

11. How can I find solace from Remim and my love for her,
When distance and estrangement cannot avail?

12. I have folded it in my heart where it remains like a defect,
My fellow sufferer, impressed on my ribs.

13. And white ostriches in the paddock, as though they are
Brooks diminished, their water flowing gently.

14. They chose a rendezvous with us after interval,
Their blonde hair bound with fillets.

15. They came in howdahs, their clothes as though
Woven of pearls, adorned with embroideries.

16. Some of their party passed by us, increasing
Our sickness, when heard by pricked-up ears.

17. Before long it was night then, an hour
When dawn gleamed and it was time to depart.

18. They left from a side, as we did,
And tears flowed along their tracks.

19. At dawn, the caravan moves briskly as though
A gliding serpent in the desert storming on.

20. Their eyes hasten to line themselves with kohl that seems
To be a train fallen from its wire in succession.

21. And we stood up toward the Khoz trees which appeared
As though their springs had slackened and diminished.

22. So they inclined toward us, covering the ruins,
Together around them, shining brilliantly.

23. And I am strong, though love does not create
A beauty in parting when the ways are desolate.

24. And I maintain my happy temper when hardship strikes me,
Though profit is worn out by time.

25. I turn away from my people, though if I wished they would be guided,
When the supplicant groans and pleads.

26. Fearing that I will be abased if I beg
And people will make me again one of the greedy.

27. So I hear from them or receive a favor and am grateful,
Since every receiver of bounty should be humble.

28. And I refrain from things which, if I wanted, I could obtain
Out of shame, if there is meanness in them.

29. I do not cast off the son of my uncle walking on the edge
Even if his hurts reach me constantly.

30. But I console him and forget his sins
So he may return repentant one day.

31. I furnish him with my money and conceal his vice
So he may hear I do not reproach him.

32. It is enough foolishness and evil habit
To oppose a close relative, even if called a breaker.

33. So leave your family safely and their hearts will be safe,
Though one day something will frighten you.

34. You will experience what you have stored up until
Fates send it back to you fully.

35. If you pardon, you will be pardoned, but if you
Oppose with the like, misfortunes will strike you.

36. Do not initiate a war you can avoid,
Else war unforeseen will afflict you.

37. By my life - the best life - if you praise,
It is the Azd; truly the word of truth spreads.

38. Noble their efforts, majestic their renown,
When people forsake noble ways.

39. To us belong the highest chambers of glory and sublimity.
We attained them while others follow.

40. To us belong two mountains of ancient glory
Radiant, which no climber can ascend.

41. So many of noble place have come from us
And so many preservers of generations past.

42. From us are feeders in days of youth, not niggardly
When infants cried to be suckled.

43. Our clothes ennoble groups like us then they
Remain for them to wear afterwards.

44. When we strive for glory and nobility
As a tribe, then none can rival us.

45. From us are the Bani Ma as-Sama, and Munzir,
And Jafnah, and the Qurum who attack constantly,

46. Tribes of Ghassan ascribing themselves to ‘Amir
While the Azd are those of perfect pedigree.

47. An-Nu‘man made Qais and Khandaq subjects,
He did so, none prevented Rabi‘ah.