1. Shall I inform Amr in his distant home
That you have uttered unfair, misguided words?

2. Do you chide with insult a man not yet accused?
Do you threaten one not yet come to that pass?

3. If you meet me, you meet a man long tested,
Conversing, though you burst out against me, restrained.

4. Know you not, O Amr, that at Maqit I met you
When the horses had not yet shied away?

5. Your two horsemen both recoiled from me
Knowing well from my calm I had not recoiled.

6. Still I shielded my companions and warded you off
With my spear till you crept slowly away.

7. Truly, I turned the horses in alarm, their forelocks
Bristling, and I left dead men between pairs and singles.

8. Still among you is he whom our cunning strokes down,
Another who bows his neck and his hand.

9. We smote the ram till his stars dropped down,
Scattered, by each angry, penetrating blow.

10. No faith can be put in the greed of the man
Who lies plotting on cushioned bed.

11. Wrong like a lord’s becomes by morning ruin,
And retreats to a lair with no pillows spread!