1. Oh you, my beloved, with braids and necklaces
And wavy, black hair and smooth cheeks

2. With gleaming white teeth that flashed
Like pure honey when she smiled

3. Her braids coiled like snakes
That crawled into her bun, neatly tied

4. How can I hope to reach her when between us
Lies the Numeir desert and mountains lining Najd?

5. We both call out, “Oh Nizār!” though between us
Lie the widths of Khati or even India

6. Tribes tower over Nizār
In double folds of David’s make or Chinese silk

7. When we charge they counter with
Spears that pierce muscles and sinew

8. And when we attack with swords
They repel like sheets of iron we thrust

9. I despair that I still see the desert
Stretching before me, blocking my path

10. By my life, if I braved them
With Qais matched by Qais and Awf by Sa’d

11. And wasted my life, and Ribāb, and Dārim
And ‘Amr ibn Udd—how could I bear Udd?

12. I would be like the pouring ladle
That waters foreign houses over mine

13. Like a wet nurse who nursed another’s young
While her own were led astray, wandering far

14. So I advise you, my two sons Nizār
Heed the counsel of one who gives sincere advice and love