1. My beloved has dwellings in eastern Salma,
And a figure in the deserts of Lubayyin hinders.

2. A year has passed, its summer and spring gone by,
And year follows year, each replacing the last.

3. Its people have endured it and it has served them—
Years, some distinct, some similar.

4. It's as if over it is a small reddish dome
Fragmented by gray polished clouds.

5. Look, my friend! Do you see any young, pregnant camels
Such as rose in the dawn, the pregnant ones halted?

6. They strode from the sand and split its middle
With small dunes between which are cairns.

7. When the legs of the locusts appeared and hoppers—
Litters and their nurses, the egg-layers—

8. You were disturbed and said, “Unless it's for its people,
For whom has it hosted others but for a few nights?”

9. A unique treasure consoles me for the distance,
The darling of the camp, my faltering walk's mistake.

10. It's as if its plains and brow display
The fires stoked by the cooking-places.

11. And I am outpouring praise and panegyric
To a noble one whose virtues are sought,

12. One of the noblest in rank and stature
When bereaved women wish to take refuge with him,

13. One whom no warrior can ward off in fear
As he hunts men down day after day.

14. Soon he will attack amatching opponent
When the sublime and low clash together.

15. He begins with a blow or cripples him
With a piercing one that yellows the fingers.

16. The son of Salma was granted two boons: to be chosen
For combat when meeting a foe in battle

17. And for raids, never stopping to conquer lands,
His horses and camels disturbing the earth,

18. Giving freely of spoils like the first milkings
And tithes that seekers alight on.

19. When you come fawning over him,
It's as if you're the one giving what you seek.

20. I will love him unto death with palms, and I ask
Your friendship with my words that I speak.

21. I will love him over whom, if asked,
I would give my right hand, were it difficult.

22. We two will live, a trinity of hands. But life
Is short, purity being rare between two hearts.

23. One who hasn't embarked on doom has no desire,
Just as one whom God has halted has no mount,

24. And if you do not fall short of ignorance and rancor
You will gain a forbearing man or meet an ignorant one.