1. Sleeplessness kept awake by cares
And troubles are for him who never sleeps

2. He who sleeps the night has wasted night
While the anxious remains awake and rapt

3. Can you see the young she-camels rising early
Marching like warriors in hasty stride

4. Chewing the dry desert growth
Marching like warriors in hasty stride

5. And the palm-tree girls taunted me, if only
They were near, cares would afflict me

6. Writing love messages in scent bags
Their dreams are confused and intertwined

7. They guard their faces behind the veils
As though a cloud guards the radiant sun

8. You’d think them does in the litters
Safe from the arrows that fly all around

9. Palm trees of Baysan, fully ripened
Growing together, supported and erect

10. Their clusters hang over springs of cool water,
Little meadows, behind them rocky hills

11. And Ka’b came plodding heavily to tell me:
“Strange times! Rush headstrong into the fray!

12. Though you acted not by the rules, let nothing
Grieve you, for every beauty has her defect.”

13. Indeed, I was troubled that my cousin Ka’b
Seemed set on what should never be attempted,

14. No crime of ours, O clan of Kinanah, rather
I, if we part, will be torn to pieces,

15. I do not count loss of contact a loss, but
I have lost one whose loss is utter destruction,

16. One of the champions of his tribe, who were
As pillars, white-faced heroes of great deeds,

17. Clement to those whose ways pleased them,
But raging lions when rage was required,

18. Generous in the days of famine when rain was
Scarce and the bows gave little protection,

19. Men whose fathers were Aws and Abd Amr,
And Ka’b, fair-faced and strongly-built,

20. Young men like roaring lions in the hunt
Whose keenness was confused with foolish dreams,

21. And mature men who by their deeds had built
Great glories that made other clans afraid,

22. Time and fate have power over them
And the echoing tombs are filled with their dust,

23. Such is the end of all mankind
That days will surely bring to ruin,

24. And in their wake, my soul falls
In sorrow, remembering is my sickness,

25. My she-camels stride proudly, scornful of all
The meadows pour showers on them continuously,

26. With swaying humps looming over the land,
Bones do not diminish their massive frames,

27. Now fat, their gelded rams outpacing riders,
Not tired out, nor worn by saddle or rein,

28. Approaching they seem to say “Press on!”,
Uphill, press on! And press on!

29. Departing they seem to say “Encampments!”,
Tent walls appear over which rise tent poles,

30. And when you surprise them in a hidden dale,
You’d say “Palms which the East wind makes tremble!”

31. They are like white eggs in the sand grouse nests,
From which the stooping picker gathers nothing,

32. Save what their flapping startled from the low scrub
Where first the clouds begin to gather,

33. They show no weakness though long without water,
A herd whose leader suffers no straying,

34. His brow is frowning darkly, and Thursday’s
Assembly is blest by him when all gather,

35. A horseman pursuing, another gathering strays,
Horses galloping, others calmly grazing,

36. The thrill of the hunt and the foe excited them
Till they were like a closely-knit necklace,

37. They cavorted in springtime, and soon got used to
Breaking the rules and exceeding the limits,

38. Racing past dwellings, startled by lanterns,
Frightened by saddles and reins pulling at them,

39. A barren land, yet the stallions' neighing echoes,
As does the mating call and the females’ answering,

40. Its expanse bounded only by mirage
Where the high dunes curve away from the viewer,