1. Umayma went on after she had said farewell,
Moving away while my love for her did not disappear.

2. She obtained the result of separation, which was
A specter that weighed heavily on the one bidding farewell.

3. In every night camp there was a yearning companion for her
Who stirred up sorrow while turning to and fro.

4. How did you cut across while you were not experienced
In traversing the desert? Where in you was determination?

5. Can reproach convey you to the high ground of resolve
While censure makes me shun you and causes aversion?

6. My love for her flowed freely and her intention was evident:
Pasturage for her, tender from the plants growing on it.

7. A she-camel, firm of step, who hardens her tread at a rider
As though her driver were a swaying sandhill.

8. Whenever distress looms, she is relied upon
And a refuge for one facing calamities and seeking escape.

9. She was offered to her stallion and it was as though
She were a vat round which builders throng.

10. She inspires yearning, her neck rings were adorned for the Feast,
Delicate from the pure oil with which she was smeared.

11. Until after persevering her determination gave out
And she was disgraced by the wilderness, rugged and harsh.

12. It was as though their eyes from the hardship of travel
Were a meadow whose water channels had gone dry.

13. It was as though she were the emaciated she-camel of Salh
That had made room on its side for loss and tail.

14. Springtime makes its home there, frightening to hear
In its stead the bustle of evening, loud and confused.

15. And a limit like the scar of al-Walid, rugged,
A mountainside which the worthless dust heaps obey.

16. The nests of eagles on the crags, a mountainside,
Steep, more hollow than a honeycomb.

17. When the stars gave it shade, it shook off
The free women and those who bore heavy burdens.

18. He remembered a watering place with its fruit trees
While beyond it were humble palm trees, bent and stooped.

19. He determined to head for the fresh, cold springs
Above which was a dyke pouring out and flaming.

20. Pool overflowing which do not dry up, rushing
With mosses upon their eddies fluttering.

21. So he led his mount into the darkness and it led him away
Then halted, wary of destruction, keeping watch.

22. Upon the path a mounted guard was an attentive sentry
Striving with his eyes to keep the enclosure in view.

23. With him was a scout, whenever he tightened its lead
With divine sanction she mocked him and laughed at him.

24. Smooth and deep-necked, it was as though her equipment
Were a professional mourner enumerating the generous.

25. Slender, pebble-hard hoof, a spring,
Like metal slag when it is pounded and drawn out.

26. A look like the hem of a loincloth, pallid,
Neither jujube nor does it tend to mottle.

27. And well-informed from what he has seen, steadfast,
With the course of events, above him and pressing down.

28. He shot and missed him and galloped away as though
He were a fox in the lair of goats bleating.

29. Was that him or one with two braids, impassioned,
A splay-footed hyena which a howler looks after?

30. While he jested with a sand dune and her young
There came to him a large-necked wild donkey.

31. It went straight for him and he shied away, then it drove him off,
Honor which tests sharp swords and tries them out.

32. It left him with cheeks that looked as though
They were stained with the blood of virginity, viscous.

33. It tore away their veils, so ones nobility and gravity
Were shamed and stooped over in humiliation.