and with him were generosity and great virtue. He was (1) a scion of the kings of Shayzar. He later lived in Egypt (2) for a time during the Fatimid era, then returned to Syria and presented himself (3) to Sultan Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn at Damascus in the year seventy; there he recited (4):

[al-Muqārab]
I praise the hoary hair that has crowned my long life—
though in those years I have multiplied my sins—
for I lived long enough to meet,
after the foe, a cherished friend.

He also composed—(5) on a tooth that was extracted and thus lost its benefit (6)(7):

[al-Basīṭ]
A comrade whose company I never tire of through all time—
he toils in biting and strives with earnest zeal.
I had never seen him since the day we joined in fellowship,
but the moment he appeared to my eyes we parted for ever.

He left a large dīwān (8) of poetry that Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn preferred above all other collections. This emir, Usāma (9), was born in 488 AH. In his youth he was gallant, brave, and formidable; he once killed a lion (10) single-handedly, face to face. He lived on until he died in this very year—may Allah have mercy on him.

Ibn Khallikān (11) records that he passed away on the night of Tuesday, the twenty-third of Ramaḍān, and was buried to the east of Mount Qāsyūn (12). He adds: “I visited his grave, recited there, and offered a gift on his behalf—may Allah Most High show him mercy.” Among the verses he quoted (13) from him are these (14):

[al-Kāmil]
Do not borrow fortitude to endure their estrangement;
your strength will fail against unending rejection.
And know that, whether you return to them of your own will
or not, you will come back in the return of the regretful.