1. Their eyes heavy with drowsiness, the reins slipped through their hands,
As the horses ambled on through the dunes.

2. The years of misery made them sway
Atop their mounts, swaying like shoots of anemone.

3. Through each torn shirt was bared
A cloak for the night of wakefulness.

4. The salty sweat dripped down in the morning
A neck twisting and writhing without restraint.

5. Disheveled were they from pacing about,
Until the hut tops of Muraan appeared.

6. Past the sand-dune they went, their mounts stumbling
And the riders thrown in the meadows of Na'maan.

7. They looked out over the playgrounds longingly,
A song frolicking in the shade of the acacias.

8. An eye goes round and round, its lids
Sickened, its lashes frozen.

9. In the charming, delicate sands, a gazelle
Glances languidly, kohl-lined eyes and teeth.

10. One who aspires to the garden of a beautiful Khameela,
Fragrant with the blossoms of sweet basil.

11. The wavy mirage shimmers and I swoon,
My eyes bedazzled by the distant, hazy horizon.

12. With my two arrows I take aim and am cautious
Of former boons with the boons of Banan.

13. Would that I had the impetuous gallop of a she-camel, gray-haired,
That I spurred down the slope from Najran!

14. Or that I could breathe valor into my soul, so perhaps
My nostrils would flare with the pride of the noble!

15. You left me amid the rearmost of the tribe,
Soft bellies who submit to lowliness.

16. I almost see the sparks in the hearts’ bedding flare up
Then die down in smoke.

17. Were it not for the horsemen of Shabeelak, still
You’d be between at-Tara’ar and al-Jawlan.

18. I would have turned my spirit from the path of disgrace
And pulled on my steed's reins away from the house of dishonor.

19. With the light armor of earthenware pots, delicate
And the heavy vessels of meats, dignified.

20. How many resolves have been sharpened against you
With the sharpening of a Yemeni Indian sword!

21. I did not expect that my feet would slip
And that the hands of youths would dominate my hands.

22. My pride was awakened and my essence shook;
After being woven my necklace of pearls was unstrung.

23. What is wrong with the days that they withhold
Their gold from me, take my hand and tongue from me?

24. Time passed me by sculpting my inclinations
Until it lingered around my ankles and pulled me along.

25. So I feel as if in my ascendant stars an eclipse rises
Or a star conjoins me as I set.

26. So take me by the hand – my life for you – from the
Clutches of a lifetime whose hands have seized my possessions.

27. You will find glory and honor where you find me,
And you will see nobility and glory where you look upon me.

28. And if I sleep on earthenware, it is only
Because your glory makes the earthenware sleep gloriously.

29. It has brought me down, what it has brought down, but rather
That tyrant who wronged me has brought it down.