1. When the darling was about to depart I said:
"O guide, go gently with them for a little while!

2. Stop and stand still with the camels awhile,
And leave off moaning and beware of stooping your neck!"

3. Take your time now, and remember that
You will get from me what is no strange thing to obtain.

4. For in dark slender maidens there are moons at night,
And suns that have been used to shade and delicate things.

5. By my life, smooth-sided virgins with flexile forms,
Bearing a heavy burden on their shapely hips.

6. In the plump, bulgy hips pieces of leather shift about
Moving gently, while the smooth legs tease the imagination.

7. Independent, with swelling posterior and massive hind-quarters—
Each rump moving with a delicate, slender waist.

8. If the litters are folded back from them
To bid farewell, our minds have bidden senses farewell, too.

9. And all of us, when morning is come, will suppose
Because of the intoxication that we have drained an inflammatory drink.

10. Then we see nothing but charming girls whose slumbering eyelids
Disease has slain—becoming victims.

11. O thou veiled in the cloak, walking with a swinging gait,
Bend toward us, that we may be healed of our cares!

12. And perhaps when thy glances have become afflicted
Their spell may heal the youth wasted by passion.

13. In thy mouth for him is a healing draught,
If he breaks out in sweat from it tomorrow at dawn.

14. She said, "Avoid me and leave off hoping, for many a lover
Has hope destroyed, and he lies slain!"

15. The girls of the tribe of ‘Udhrah—how many
Minds have they robbed by their cheeks and their sport!

16. Every beautiful, softly-nurtured, slender-waisted virgin—
Her beauty for beauty’s sake is a wildly confused creation.

17. By my life, surely my heart is burnt with grief for thee
And disease has entered it and settled down heavily.

18. But fear of other than the sons of my uncle
Has forced me to affect ignorance of thee.

19. You will not see the tall, splendid arrows
With the horses' trappings, acredited with noble deeds.

20. Nor the level plains writhing with serpents
And the hills wrapped up in their striped garments.

21. Nor coats of mail pouring forth,
Eager for war on horses accustomed to the fray.

22. Nor the sons of my uncle calling together,
Troop after troop, the battalions to battle.

23. And whenever one demands my name as a lender,
It angers the noble heroes passionately.

24. And lions of war, raging in the thickets,
Roaring, that fill depression and hill with gloom—

25. In an onslaught that fills the horizon with darkness,
And a battle that fills the ear with ringing—

26. And a band you see only noble stallions among them,
Loath to spend from their possessions, however small—

27. Were they to meet some thick affair,
They would return it gaping and open-mouthed.

28. They have never ceased baring their blades
For battle, or sheltering a guest in their abode.