1. A vision from Sulaima passed by and lingered,
She sighed and said to her daughter, “For how long,

2. Will you be given hope of comfort and flowing water,
And relief from you that has come near?

3. It follows a lost one like a free-roaming horse,
When bindings are loosened for it to roam.

4. So it is a father to this one and a son to that,
At Thajr, or Taima, or Wadi al-Qura.

5. It kept away sleep and denied us wishes,
So I said, “Welcome to the vision as it traveled on

6. And the band above a bare plain of smooth pebbles,
Spotted, not finishing what the people began,

7. A paved road guiding to flowing water,
Pure, not muddied by turbidity.

8. On its sides are rocky areas echoing,
Guiding the lost, veering wherever it turned aside,

9. It has markings at the limit of vision.
They came from Egypt contending with the wilderness,

10. Complaining of wounds in the ribs and kidneys.
She asks her about her husband, “What kind of man?”

11. A cowardly fool, and when hungry he cries,
He neither gathered wood for the people nor watered them,

12. Nor sought the people’s lost mounts if they strayed,
Nor covers his private part when he urinates,

13. And eats dates but doesn’t throw away the pits,
As if he were a waterskin filled with pebbles

14. When he saw the sand and dripping trees of al-Ghadha
And the cattle with brands on their sides,

15. He cried and said, “Do you see what I see?
Is there no end to this long journey?”

16. I said, “I will console my companion! Yes indeed!
If the journey is long and the knots of tent ropes loosen,

17. You see a man shrink with the shrinking of a waterskin
When the patch is bent onto the leather bottle

18. And his ribs are bundled over the tent pegs.”
So he said, “You have announced my death.” I said, “I see

19. Either wealth will be asked in ransom but not paid,
Or the people will be neglected a little but not perish.

20. In the morning, the people will praise the journey
And the darkness of worries will disappear from them.”