1. Imprisoned in life and guardian of villages
When night comes upon her with a disheveled latecomer

2. With a spear-point in her midst which she does not deny
When there is no rest for the milker there

3. Winds in the dwelling when the dawn breezes blow
Making its corners whirl with twisting sands

4. When the wind faces it, it does not come untied
Though the stars of heaven and planets have risen

5. When the spilt blood saddens the shoulders that bear it
And it pines for the dearest of those that mourn

6. When a band appears from it in the unseen
Moving with the walk of unrestrained women

7. Who circle about gaily as if the murmuring of them
When it passes over the pliable pouch were the humming of a picker

8. They turn back the long thirst with their drinking-places
When the locust sheds the leaves of the acacias

9. It is as if it has long swaying branches in the gardens of paradise
And its upper gums are the dens of foxes

10. When there is naught but the cutter, its sickles
At the thickets' base harvest the cutter

11. It breaks them into pieces beneath the ice when
The acacia trees don heavy winter clothes

12. As if the fleece upon it were a soft model
When it covers its shoulders with the leading stars

13. It heals the soul's wounds from Sulaym and 'Āmir
On the day evil planets appeared

14. The youths of Taghlib stab them with spears
So they fled and drew back from the faces of lovers