1. Trust my patience with the days
And do not trust my patience without you

2. After fifty arguments, eyes of doe
In desolate lands have captured my heart

3. I do not envy the wealthy
If glory comes from poverty

4. But I have endured much enmity
Many sins of poetry and black marks

5. I have aimed them at Qais ibn Jodhair
And knocked them down, hurling rocks

6. I have not wronged the weakling
Can a waterfowl stand still for the falcon?

7. I cry for poetry, that now
Every insect presumes to versify

8. With endless seas and nights around
What can it know of seas in tumult?

9. To you, to you, about Lu'ay ibn Ghalib
For Lu'ay does not rest on the lute

10. Leave the hissing serpent be
Death lurks within its green fangs