1. Bejila said when she set out on her journey,
“O Lord, spare my father from misfortunes and afflictions,

2. And You, O Lord, have mercy on her and lengthen
Her life, and protect her from want and trials.

3. O Bejila, every person has a final resting place
That cannot be avoided when the time comes.

4. The witness among them is like the absent when
Death nears and their day draws close.

5. The approach of a person's death does not change
What Allah decreed in the Quran when He wrote.

6. Fate does not retreat before your likes,
When the swords are unsheathed and destiny grips.

7. The crow who did not know your dwellings
Perhaps was a harbinger of woe for us.

8. O Bejila, go to your mother and dry
Her tears, for misfortunes have made me disconsolate.

9. Did I ever find a father for a young girl
Whom time let keep her parents?

10. I used to have kinsmen living around me
Who left except that I know the lineage.

11. What befell them will befall me too
Each lived awhile, then went away.

12. If I return, I will gain for them
What no purposeful person gains through deceit.

13. If news of my death reaches you, mourn a father
Who confronted enemies and perils.

14. And ask Allah’s forgiveness for him, do not forget him, and be patient,
For Allah rewards those who show patience."

15. Let not Satan adorn his trials for you,
Ripping garments and beating your face.

16. I depended on people when I left
Without my camels, horses, hungry and fearing war.

17. I became like a severed limb, lacking
What I owned, the groomed gone to seed.

18. When the white year returned, it left
No daughters for me to raise from our livelihood.

19. So I chose an old she-camel whose saddle ropes
Were from camels that started life noble and mannered,

20. Shaggy, never herded by a shepherd to graze,
Or nursed a calf, giving milk.

21. Like an emaciated camel braying with want,
Lean, taught to pace and stay close.

22. When she sees her kind or something else,
She stretches her neck to the heights and groans.

23. As if, when running, she cares not
If she's robbed or complains of a stumble.

24. The yearlings fled from her and conceded to her,
Leaving the glory of her neck bare.

25. Or is it a black, gangly foal
A stray splashing in water and plants?

26. As if, when lightning flashed, her image
Was a shrouded knight burning with flames,

27. Grazing meadows, pestered by flies there,
Some buzzing, some raising a ruckus,

28. Until downpours in a blessed night
A generous rain echoing down the hillsides,

29. Bathing her in the cold east wind
The rain until she calmed and steadied.

30. She takes cover in reefs of sand,
Sheltering her knees when showers poured.

31. Until when the sun displayed its beauties,
And a north wind renewed and amazed.

32. Smooth, copying the markings,
And slender, seeking game, though emaciated.

33. She bolted like a shooting star and separated,
With rivals, chasing what they chased.

34. Her forelegs paw where her hindquarters sprang,
As if they leap at the coward and seize it.

35. In them no life but struggling breaths
When its chest heaved, empty and parched.

36. Yet she persisted, sound, unconcerned,
As if her pastures were wooded and grassy.

37. When her leader came at the departure, she recognized
The experienced one, though no bride price was paid.

38. She came obediently to the packsaddle
An old she-camel, never given a bride price.

39. The packsaddle clothed her, though naked,
Able to walk steadily with supplies and waterskins.

40. For sixty days, by the abode of the Commander of the Faithful
We remained in fear for one accustomed to roam.

41. Seek out Hisham, imam of the people, and plead
As we did when our needs were fulfilled by his court.

42. She winds along the easy slopes of Tawa’esis,
While sorrow flowed into her footsteps.

43. She wanders only under the Hajar trees
When misfortune climbs the peg and perches.

44. Then she walks on while the sparrows nest,
And the deer make their homes and dens.

45. She does not graze until the blossoms show
A pasture where darkness gallops away.

46. She crossed valleys and ravines with them,
And the deserts, plateaus, and dunes between.

47. Crossing them while her friend weakened
And the surplus of the short-paced troubled her.

48. Drinking water only when the surface was
Ruffled by doves sprinkling down feathers.

49. Had she spent the night competing with her equals
She would be gaunt by morning, utterly worn out.

50. Until she saw a caller from Syria’s mountains
Repeating God’s name though voices were hoarse.

51. She approaches when the caller stretches his voice,
But falls behind when the voice weakens.

52. The scout did not find her before I nearly left her,
Nor was the braid undone from her tail.

53. The wolf snatched her in his tracks, spilling
Her blood from the cheeks, then fearing the sword, fled.

54. In two months, only her bones, hide, and sinews
Remained for the echo to recognize her by.

55. She does not disdain the whip when her Master decrees it,
Nor increases, bellows, even when struck.

56. I never sought anything from the people
Futile, nor played games in my life.

57. But it broke my heart that she was lost,
Swallowed my land when she did not return.

58. So here is my palm, I have extended it,
Give her what you see fit of your generosity.

59. Just as you raised me from the depths of darkness
Where fate left in my heart not even a splinter.

60. A royal son, a noble youth we hope for
Will be a brother to kings, leading Arab and non-Arab.

61. The caliphate appears in their faces
As you see gold in the whiteness of silver.

62. Those who pursue when their hands reach out
And the forerunners at the bow’s end seek.