1. I recalled my beloved brother after despair had set in
And the memory of him stirred my yearning

2. I shall never forget my brother as long as I live
And my brothers in the bosom of intimacy

3. Our horsemen in the abode of Dara were steadfast
As were the cavalry on the right and the left flank

4. They dragged away the captives to the women mourners
In the garden of sorrow from the horizon’s embrace

5. And they captured the prisoners whenever they met them
With the cavalry and the drawn swords clashing

6. When they joined ranks and said, come closer!
They marched off in the wide open desert

7. Every noble spirited and easy going Shammar knight responded
One who sheds cares and charges into the fray

8. Righteous people I was raised among
After intimacy and harmony they passed away

9. They went about their business and I was left without them
But meeting later is inevitable

10. Like a camel missing its accustomed herd
Yearning and not ceasing its desire for them

11. I see the world as we lead debauched lives in it
Ready to move on from it

12. My peers have passed away and only my soul remains
No living soul lasts forever in this world

13. It is as if old age and vicissitudes race
To reach the soul of a youth like racers

14. Either old age will overtake him
Or he will meet his death as decreed

15. If the locks of my hair turn white in the evening
Becoming gray of color and white at the temples

16. I walk in the mornings with a staff that makes me look
To those watching from balconies like zebras terrified

17. Or like a camel with mange amazed by me
And some coquettish beauties glance at me

18. Batting their lashes with shining eyes
They gaze at possibilities without fulfillment

19. For binding ties with me are not within reach
The promise of singers is like the promise of the treacherous

20. And the twisting curling locks turn away from it
Like the arrival of misfortune, he who sees it is amazed

21. But it does not quench the thirst of the bereaved for their loved ones
So my demise while leading the camel train is not far off

22. As is my stumbling in my cloak and tripping over it
And the dust of twilight, I try to avert it from myself

23. By quickly glancing while my eyes are still clear
And I roamed the horizons until

24. I grew weary of roving around from place to place
When one place wearied me I moved to another

25. Counting its months like lunar mansions
But the years wore me out and do not themselves wear out

26. Nor do the counting of months and seasons
What fate has decreed marches on like a lion in the wild

27. Dragging the caravan of comrades behind it
A dense darkness that even bright stars cannot penetrate

28. Like a stubborn mule that broke free of its tether
It wrestles the prey from the mother of cubs

29. Glowering, with a hideous embrace
No hero whom the horses shied away from out of fear

30. Like the flight of birds from lightning's brilliance
A generous soul from Khuzaymah or Tamim

31. Noble in the face of hardships and trials
But if the fates mistake him

32. How can length of days protect him from death?