1. Sumayya awoke early to pleasure
And left at dawn, never to return

2. My eyes provisioned themselves when I met her
With the bending of a gazelle-like Unayza - a glance that did no good

3. She swayed until she froze, erect,
Like a smooth-coated gazelle taking startled stance

4. With the eyes of a houri, you'd think her glances
And pearly teeth were shedding copious tears

5. And if you contend with her in talk, you will see
A beautiful smile, sweetly sly

6. Like a morning draught an east wind had stirred
From clear sweet water in a meadow

7. The plain was darkened by the descent of an avid rain cloud
And the pools were clarified by it, far from the watering place

8. The torrents played over it, till its water
Became tangled brambles in the bases of the brushwood

9. Sumayya, by your life! Have you heard of a raid
In which the banners were raised against us in assembly?

10. We are too noble to mistrust an ally
And curb the stinginess of our souls when in need

11. We purify our possessions and accounts with security
And hurl our spears into the fray with bold war cries

12. And plunge into the gloom of every miserable day
That brings souls to ruin while the bold profit

13. And in the Abode of Guardians we pitch our tents
For a time, while others pine in poverty

14. By way of a frontier whose people never
Let up from the sickness that is pointed to with fingers

15. Sumayya, how do you know that the Lord of some youths
Has not ruined their pleasures at the darkest meadow

16. Their eyes reddened after daybreak
With visions of life and hearing there

17. Sprawled on the couch as though grieving
Around a bier that has not been lifted

18. They took me by surprise at dawn and I made them
A morning feast of slaughtered meat dripping crimson

19. With a roasting spit that seethed beneath it
I hurried its cooking for a famished clan

20. Before me, a disheveled oath-taker extends his right hand -
By God, you have perfectly cooked it, he did not refrain

21. And lying down in weariness, I roused them up
After sleep, back to their comrades in the shade

22. The saddles wore away their straps till they swung
Adrift, their girths cut from the saddle pads

23. My mounts play with the saddlebags, each one
Running with a torn shirt and split seam

24. And a she-camel I loaded that bore the burden
Of a litter that trips over every irregularity

25. I married her to a stallion, less than a year old,
A lively young foal with erect member

26. I married her off, and my pillow was my forearm -
Tough, its veins unflinching

27. So I lifted myself off him, and he was listless, red
It was clear he could do no more with me

28. Wherever her hips rested you could see
Traces like a wild cat’s on the marital bed