1. The passions of love assail me from every quarter
By the one with the myrtle, so I feared they would never heal

2. Instincts that left no rest for the soul once they rose
Above reason, challenging the spirit's journey; how grave and momentous!

3. The companions of daybreak, then their company persisted
On every gentle, compliant creature fully matured

4. On every free steed, purebred and highborn
Rivaling, in their vigor, honored ancestors

5. When riders strive their utmost, they excuse and forgive
But if they fall short, they suffer terrible upbraidings

6. As though the hunting dogs or the doctor's eye
Were upon the caravan, the finest and noblest of them

7. As though the summer clouds beneath their veils
Flashed lightning from their edges, and smiled

8. The day we parted, all greetings of friendship ceased
How can there be greetings of affection after what transpired?

9. We fled in horror from a stricken land
Whose color, in its terror, was blackest of all

10. The tribe was divided, though they had been one
None but a vile, deceitful one could have sundered their bond

11. As though, in their valley, was the crescent moon of Banu 'Amir
When in truth naught was there but hot sands and desolation

12. It split, like a valley into two ravines
Both defiled by sand and decorated with pebbles

13. Where the shy creatures shelter in dread of harm
Huddled in their burrows while the lone swimmer is still

14. Evil intruders, their flanks shuddering
Muffling the bells on their camels, that they not chime

15. Muffling the camel drivers' calls, but for their whistling
And the women's babble, but for their lisping

16. O people of Qatan, I worshipped your abodes
In awe of a house, or one greater and nobler

17. So descend not from the noble height of your homes
To a ruin that cannot resist the torrents' violence

18. A people, when they encamp in a valley
Drive away the birds, so the birds see no bloodshed

19. Their lances shade the sun at noon
When the warriors fix them, straight and true

20. You see horses of every color galloping through their homes
Running to and fro, whinnying

21. A highborn one, I warned him to his face
But when he disobeyed me, in the contest, he regretted

22. He wished, by his tanned hide, he had obeyed me
When matters went awry and he was utterly routed

23. Schemers who came between them after their reunion
And, with their plots, scattered the sweet herb's fragrance

24. Rebels like flames of wildfire, driven
By a Syrian mischief-maker, most sinister of all

25. When a blaze flares up on one side, its evil
Kindles another blaze, and they merge

26. Among the people are impudent ones - if you forbid them
From evil, they persist as gum persists when scraped

27. May God reward my people with an intercessor, a seeker
Of justice for the oppressed and the oppressor alike

28. If only my people welcomed money from me
I would send flows of bounty to the heights of glory

29. They would lack no Nahshal - mature and wise -
Who knows honest men's ways, long experienced

30. Bearing the tribe's burdens among them
When called to glory's market, he shoulders responsibility

31. But a people refused - though their brother attained
Mankind's ascent - and chose blood over milk

32. I see our people weeping, hearts filled with sorrow
Though we have often given them cause for lament

33. Over a tragedy that devastated the tribe, for the absence
Of one like lightning, when a knight of firm resolve falters

34. But when calamities abound, and authority cracks
God blames whoever was most blameworthy