1. I preferred to spend my night with a free woman,
Of slender waist and prominent breasts,

2. When sleep distracts her from her provisions,
She spends the night far from the abode on bare ground.

3. When she lies softly on the bed, she fears
The waist beads will break if she moves.

4. She feigns to be sleepy, her eyelids almost closed,
As if they contained dust that does not irritate.

5. When after sleep I place my arm
On a moist shoulder that has not hardened.

6. She has a sweet scent, whether she approaches or draws near,
She approaches like a moth above the prepared bed.

7. The chemise beneath her clothes is like
A fawn slept on fresh plants uncrumpled.

8. With her wrists she scatters the furnishings
On the bright carpet, slender hands laden with bracelets.

9. Her scent wafts when you come at night
Like the wind in the fragrant blossoms of the lush palms.

10. When she saw who was in the saddle, she was shy
And blocked with her hand, fearing the people.

11. We spent the night together and we would not lie if we said
Our night had no end and we told it to last.

12. And every evening and wedding night
A specter comes to the travelers from Umm Ma'bad.

13. So greetings and love for you from her love I found
And yearning in the highest mountain valley.

14. How did she find the way when dark was between us?
The guide of darkness does not show the way at night.

15. After the dogs' protector slept, hiding his fire,
We brought our mounts together in every depression.

16. In a land where you see the forms of gazelles as if
A rider is carried on the back of a fleet ostrich.

17. When you see the people their arrows go astray
And the people leave the hunting grounds, so hunt!

18. And I long to meet her before dawn
The bounties of this night in every stopover.

19. When he spends the night complaining, and wakes up miserable,
Lamenting without consolation or pillow.

20. And the necks of lively camels I discipline, humbling them
With my whip, so they shriek, dispelling drowsiness.

21. They toy with the reins and avoid
The touch of a flexible whip of harvested cane.

22. If they sense the whip, they shy from me
Until they walk straight at dawn tomorrow.

23. And if one day she looks back with the corner of her eye
At a flag in the distance, she says to it "go farther!"

24. As if the passing wind between her thighs
Makes murmurs between the dunes on a hill.

25. You see hair on her cheeks when she frowns
Like the web of a spider spread out.

26. She throws pebbles behind her legs
And throws her legs backwards from her hands.

27. She drinks from a small waterskin, and if one day
Her ladle is raised to the saddlebag she takes pains.

28. When the saddlebag is removed, her pace nears
The reliable, strong, firm-stepping camel.

29. If she kneels, she leans on her front knees
Like an erect tent pole well-straightened.

30. If she's hit with a whip, her grunt sounds
Like the creak of a loom with stretched threads.

31. She almost made me and the saddle slide from her sharp voice
On the dunes, from the sound of a moaning dove.

32. When we set out from an abode, it is as if
We bend and fold from soft pillows.

33. The mountains before me become dust, as if
Clothed in gifted robes, propped up.

34. She throws her eyes when dawn breaks
At flies like the voice of a warbling bird.

35. And the one-eyed raven lands at night
With the wolf, both stoking my fire and shelter.

36. So the limping she-camel continued to wander
To you Ibn Shammas, she grazes and fattens.

37. Visiting a man who gives his wealth for praise
And who gives high prices for praise is praised.

38. He sees stinginess does not keep a man's wealth
And knows that stinginess has no eternity.

39. When asked, he sparkles and trembles
With the trembling of a type of large lizard.

40. Whenever you come to his firelight at night
You will find the best fire and hearth with him.

41. That man, if he gives you something today willingly
With both hands, will not prevent you tomorrow.

42. You are a man who throws but his qualities are not demolished
While he throws but does not demolish your qualities.

43. It is equal to him whichever time you come to him
Whether an unlucky day or happiest day.

44. He is the giver of piles of noble traits to his neighbor
The servants carry them to a remote, lofty abode.