1. Sulayma said, "Do you intend to come today, or will you delay
And some urgent need makes you forget?

2. I said, 'I'm not one who doesn't keep in touch,
My mounts walk only at a leisurely pace.'

3. I hoped for your goodness - would its trysts come?
Today, hope of seeing you was cut short.

4. I didn't blame you until you openly said,
'I have no she-camel or camel for this.'

5. I was told Marwan was threatening me,
So forestall some of my threats, O man!

6. By his hands when the shoulders of his camel hunch
And the summit of the sand-hill, far from Marwan, slopes down,

7. A block of dwellings, vacant and crudely built
Where the torrent's end marks buildings gone to ruin.

8. I devised ceaselessly what will not cease
Of hostile clans or quick [fighters] among them.

9. They shelter in her abode, accustomed
Not to pasture out unless the new moon rises.

10. Gloomy of livelihood, of forbidding mien,
Refusing affection, neither giving nor asking.

11. Preserving herself from him is hardship, while abstinence
Meets rejection from her, and a suitor in distress.

12. Young ladies, spinsters, masculine in voice,
Whose guardian, a bachelor, herds thin sheep.

13. So if a right of mine has evaded me regarding it
I am no denier nor weary of journeys.

14. We are not brethren brought together then parted
By a foe's word, nor the delusions of a madman."