1. For the woman of the tribe of Mazin, Mustafa and Murtaba'
Of what Oda saw, so for the bowl and then the draft

2. From it with the odor of dried locusts, so for the fists of
A blazing drought, life is a transient world and a listening ear

3. My heart inclines in a way that does not suit it
Of an impassioned caller to ascend and descend

4. Their gatherings scattered, and gathered by
The permanence of blame and overflowing when they recover

5. May God not distance companions I left
I did not know after the morning of separation what they did

6. They stirred to depart and said, “Indeed your drinking place
Is the water of snakes from a crumbling spring”

7. When we come upon the valley of Nibaj with us
Timidly, there is no going back to what is past

8. The sister of the tribe of Danlan eyed you with a glance
Of longing from them to her lineage throng

9. Bazil, a stallion, went with him
As the skirts of his robe flow, swaggering

10. Houries with shapely limbs circled him
Calling the young men of Bakr and those they gathered

11. The thickets where the caravan stopped did not tire in their dress
Of the chaos of Dahas and in their dens are shadows

12. Whites flawless on a summer’s day, no patience
For abasement, nor raven hair, nor bending

13. Rather what you remember of a cup you drank with her
While the grey hair and baldness rise up your head

14. From the mother of an honorable abode, her covenant is inviolable
Indeed the honorable in his weakness is devout

15. A fair-skinned Houri, we know not will she allow us
After fun or refuse and abstain

16. Had we tempted her with the temptation of the licentious
The caravan would have left content

17. With a secret desire in the breast, bewildered by it
So he is not spoken to unless perplexed

18. She gazes with the eyes of Maha, the sands'retreat
Except for the melodious calling of the milch camels grazing

19. The son of two mornings, walking proudly, his legs
Stiffen as the shackles and reins are pulled

20. Pure white leather, slender nostrils, when
He raced the meadows in his shackles swift

21. A sturdy colt the shepherds did not spoil nor
Was he worn down hauling the rear of the flock and grazing

22. Only Maha, when she loses him, circles back
As the waterspout curves for the she-camel's craft

23. He walks beside her at times and she sings to him
Then leaves her for a while and lies down

24. She stayed watchful in the thickets of the Hurrein
Fearing for him if the predators came late

25. O daughter of the family of Shihab, do you know when
The turtle-doves bow their necks at dusk

26. That I ready my arrows with one of flawless
Sycamore to straighten and pierce it

27. Their quivers resound, disheveled are their forelocks
White of face, intense at dawn, stripped

28. Loyal, their cups made them so
They will always have a slice of meat to slice

29. And they will always have a pot boiling
Like boiling froth, hurried by the palms and ladle

30. O daughter of the family of Shihab, do you know when
The young she-camel fled, terrified by the leather skirt

31. That we stand with our weapons and they are borne for us
By the tall knight, sword bare and piercing

32. Broad is his headband, when the matter showed its truth
Like a sword without flaws or markings

33. We withhold our grazing livestock until we clear
The fines from us, neither black nor bleating

34. O sister of the family of Shihab, do you know when
The noblewomen forgot in their fright the skirt

35. That we brandish on the battlefield its ornaments
While the horses have piercing sights and tremble

36. And do you know when the gazelles, once
The mirage covered their bodies, crouched down

37. That I ready the reddish she-camels of midday while the warblers
Above the camel’s leg joints are silent

38. With the extended pole the camel strides, its side
The camel driver’s sway when he brought it together

39. From every smooth hill that did not again slide
Its pearls were not desired by a watcher or company