1. The morning breeze's fragrance greets you,
Telling of the soil where those ruins lie,

2. The singing birds assist it when released
At nightfall by the twisting winds on high.

3. That lightning flashing in the House of 'Adi,
Why did it strike your heart with melancholy?

4. Congratulations to the tears for their outpouring!
They have announced a generous, noble quality.

5. Was it your phantom that came with the wild creatures
Caressing them, made sportive by the breeze?

6. He saw the swords close by and turned from them
To judge us by the ancient precedents.

7. I grieve when rain strikes the desert country
And thunder roars against the lowering sky,

8. Whenever I took pleasure in the valleys
I fancied my own temper like the rain-charged cloud.

9. Do you hope, my brother, for glory through me,
The glories of Buwairah and Qurum?

10. The tribes deny your title to the name of Nizar,
As if among them you displayed the trait of villainy.

11. My purpose takes the horizon for its tenting place
And scorns the companying with the stars.

12. A soil it claims, that musk itself as sweet
When it is rained on by the valley's blowing air.

13. By it he glories if the brutes talk folly,
And he disdains to quarrel with a man of sense.

14. A meadow that the heat of sun did not affect
Till it was sheltered by the clouds on high.

15. When the south wind sports with it and it sways
Like a sick man stricken by pain.

16. I travelled there with the riding camels' feet
That brought the evening and the soft night rain.

17. Its light kissed the mouths of my she-camels there
And wantoned with them from their hinder girths.

18. They couched as though worn out with sorrow and grief
While the cold numbed their knees and joints.

19. For them, when they marched on with it, a marching place,
A march-place worthy of the praise of noble souls.

20. By a lively spring of Khafajah I dwelt,
Moving on its bare plateau the tent of palm-leaves.

21. I loosed the wine within it, for it guarded my woes,
Maddened it and dealt destruction to the cup-companion.

22. I made it the Kohl upon my eyelids, striking with it
The notches of the sword with chosen, jointed blows.

23. In their living throats I made the death-dooms crash
By a straight cutting blade, dispenser of rebukes.

24. Do you boast your merits to contend with mine,
Dishonorer of great names by your ignoble acts?

25. Then you have no share in what is attributed to Sinan,
Nor are you his offspring, traced to Temim.

26. The night-stars, my vengeance keeps them wakeful still,
The firmness of my resolution makes them tremble.

27. My tears upon my mount's cheeks are to be seen
Like the shower's tears upon the cheek of a leather bag.

28. You have been told of some little merit that I boast,
But have you been told of my most villainous defect?