1. As though I had saddled the camel a sturdy mount,
Girded with leather straps from the donkeys' hide.

2. I had with me a whip that was rough on the camel's eye
Whenever it strayed or was stubborn and hard to subdue.

3. It curled up in the cave's nooks during the siesta
And did not rouse till the noon heat made it distraught.

4. Until the midday sun rose and baked the sands around it,
When hot winds blew, scorching, and dust clouds mounted.

5. It weakened the rest of the she-camels, emaciated
Their bodies, and in their faces fatigue was paramount.

6. It drove them on until their thirst was slaked,
When little fat was left on their frames to count.

7. All day he remained dividing his time,
Perplexed, wondering where he should go.

8. A nagging care kept after him
And an immigrant wife who brought him much woe,

9. With a baby he had to provide for,
Rising above them sometimes, and fasting below.

10. Over their heads they seemed like birds
Observing the sun-fast, suffering its glow,

11. Fearing the patrolman of the wastes, a tyrant
To their young, carried in the crook of their elbow.

12. Until night came and darkness enfolded them
With its flood upon them, the running sands' flow.

13. And Orion clung to the settled darkness,
Cleaving fast when their tracks were hard to know.

14. He led them to brackish, troubled water,
With floating scum like washing froth in its bow.

15. Nearby a groom had readied the saddle-bags
And with his hands the racers were easy to trow.

16. When they approached the water, driven by thirst,
The sturdy she-camels were quick to follow.

17. She stooped her hands to drink and cooled her innards
Against a thirst in her, though the water was foul.

18. With widespread pinions the falcon dived at her
His body feathers ruffling, aggressive and growling.

19. He pierced her breast and fended off her front
While the smooth spear slipped in, safe and sound.

20. She turned away and the drove of camels turned too,
As though fire blazed in the tracks they were treading.

21. He left her bending to the fever in her brow
With both nostrils high from the babbling and threading.