1. She unveiled a watering place from the remains of campsites
Like the quick-moving floodwaters' torrents

2. And plucked stories from the fragrant branch
Whose old age resembles the color of withered skulls

3. She circled, folding her cloak, around a hill of sand
Watered by bitter sap from ruptured skins

4. I swear, her clothes make up for what they lack
An upright woman's garb, not a corrupt one's

5. Indeed, her glances instilled in his heart
A passion not like knotted necklaces' embers

6. If she hasn't captivated his heart
Then she left it in the claws of a ferocious beast

7. Sajira daughter of Shams son of ‘Amr son of Ghanim
And Nasr son of Zuhran son of Ka’b son of Harith

8. Is it Dharib and Kharjain, then Qa’a, then Liwa
Then wide slopes of Ma’ir, then ‘Anak?

9. By your vows, or did time void its pledge
And decrepitude corroded it with destroying hands?

10. So do not refuse any land you two embraced
And whatever stance you take, take it generously

11. Renewing a pact or avenging a crime
Would vex the chests of hard-working camels

12. On a lover whose love fades, as if
A child scribbled aimlessly on his thigh

13. I took refuge from a passion that addled my mind
Rushing blindly wherever it led me

14. Then it receded, gnawing in the darkness
Gnawing a fire glimpsed among the plowshares

15. May God water Liwa’s dwelling place the night they camped
Daughters of darkness, adorned in their finery

16. With our specters while jinn played the flute
Its whimpering joined by their whimpering

17. Their cheeks puffed, covering the faces of warriors
With pebbles and hailstones

18. Their slender waists meet us
As if they touched the faces with grasping claws

19. You can see the band, some wearing necklaces
Others with turbans wrapped round and round

20. But it was only the wish of every highborn lady
To hear the flutes played by fat-fingered girls

21. While riding at the pace of their steeds
They glimpsed a light between the walls and dunes

22. “It’s a star,” they said, but the most perceptive said
“Which star shines between the sands at night?”

23. “It’s the fire of Al-Harith stoking its flames
Not lit by tinder or steel striking flint”

24. So we inclined to the hospitality of great-souled Majid
Magnanimous, no miser or deceitful friend

25. When we arrived, our arrival did not please him
Nor did we make excuses or vain entreaties

26. He leaned on his spear practicing his skill
While they readied themselves to repel raiders

27. He drew a sword whose edges are forever
Honed to pierce the most armored coats

28. He lunged, and snatched away one of their camels
From the herd, with no restraining rope or tether

29. He cut its lead rope and it collapsed as if
Its pregnant hump were the ship Titanic

30. He turned to another and she protected herself, so he
Parried with his shield and turned to a third

31. Whom he missed as she recoiled, and his slaves rose
To seize them and snatch away their belongings

32. The cooking pots clanged as if
Echoing the ringing of heavy rain

33. We stayed awake enjoying the breeze after our meal
On pillows and carpets and household goods

34. Blessed is that gallant man, drawer of dew
Refuge of the troubled, and haven of the lost

35. Iyadh son of ‘Amr son of Al-Halith son of Jabir
Son of Zayd son of Manzur son of Zayd son of Warith

36. Do not let days make me forget your vow at Liwa
No, what I hoped for will never fade

37. Time taught me to abandon a land made lawful
By the encroachment of enemies and turn of fate

38. Though I do not flinch from misfortune
Or complain of entanglements in adversity

39. I have at times met fate’s caprice with acceptance
At others, confrontation and rivalry

40. For no golden age lasts indefinitely
Just as no dark age persists eternally

41. Reap what your hands have sown, for if you leave it
It will not linger, awaiting an heir

42. Do not deny worthy causes what will soon
Be distributed as inheritance to heirs

43. You hoarded it in life and lamented its loss
Scattered now by destructive and plundering hands

44. And you moldered into dust, your grave concealed
By earth heaped on it by grubby hands

45. Wealth lives on only in how you spent it
If its accounts are examined in retrospect

46. Some people admire poetry to excess though
To me it is more contemptible than an expectorator

47. Does the sea care if it surges
And floods over its currents' turmoil?

48. If I steeled myself to resuscitate it
I would extract from it only abstruse conundrums

49. And reveal from its hidden essence an obscure secret
Buried where no diligent seeker succeeded

50. Some disgraced people have surpassed in poetry
And so were honored, though verse is perfect nonsense

51. If I were to trim its fanciful margins
I would leave them only the coarse dregs

52. Look at me, though thankless, confident
My steady resolve no hesitation altered

53. When I am determined to forget the past
With an unwavering will that no advice diverted

54. And composed, though events may challenge it
They are deflected, advancing steadily undeterred

55. Whenever I approach a formidable crisis
That makes men’s feet stumble in uncertainty

56. I rise above the crumbling edifice of every disaster
Cascading with the strikes of fate

57. One came to me on an untamed colt
Her trailing skirt touching the racing steed’s hind legs

58. What occupies your minds distressed me
Saddening the heart of a man bereft of heirs

59. Yes, it is time, may God prolong your lives
To awaken, and reconsider your perilous state

60. You have resorted to the counsel of an unwise man
One neither prudent nor adept in managing crises

61. Curse you if I refrain from advising you
For I will give you the counsel of a wise man

62. Consult the stalwart sons of Malawith about your affairs
For you will not lack stalwart sons of a stalwart tribe

63. You know the merit of your stalwart heroes
And tales of generous nobles, ever stalwart

64. I fear if war horses stumble in the swamps
Hardships will plague you, then reversals

65. Atop them, men who never reconcile
When they clash with you grasping in rage

66. They are curs; if provoked, they will unleash upon you
Greater woes than any past calamities

67. They have reaped the harvest of their covenant
While you are bound by a rotten and feeble covenant

68. I would not have tarried to help you if able
Lingering devotedly, not quickly departing

69. Nor have I shirked to diligently advise you
In times past or present

70. But estrangement has come between us, and fate
Has brought misfortunes to heartbreaking degrees

71. You will not lack the caring advice of a devoted man
Or the sage counsel of one knowledgeable in affairs

72. When hot tempers cool regarding a matter
Do not be surprised by the drawing of sharp swords

73. If you show weakness, you will be like morsels
Chewed by a nursling's slobbery gums

74. Had I been among you, I would have guided your affairs
And treated the most nagging of your problems

75. I would have led you to drink from the fresh sweet spring
And brought together your far-flung diversity

76. But misguided matters have led you astray
Driving back the falcons in confused panic

77. Far be it from you to accept a disastrous folly
That you would wander wearing clothes of regret

78. If you divert your affairs from their course
They will be hostage to your enemies' arbitrary whims

79. Between you and me, for the excess of my passion
And the vicissitudes of my quarrelsome nature

80. Are like water and tinder struggling with their bonds
Though all paths forward are blocked

81. Men from Hayy and Qarwath, Jafar's tribe
With rugged and towering warriors

82. What will save you if you do not defend your lands
Barren wastes where neither tents nor structures stand

83. Seeking refuge in its mountains, but their passes
Are as hazardous as the deserts' empty wastes

84. Only ships and swamps remain, lest you be
Accomplices in shedding unlawful blood

85. Like dismembered corpses left embracing the sands
Content with certain perdition in the dunes' swells

86. Like the fate of Rabee’ and ‘Umur and their ilk
And those who pitched their tents on those barren flats

87. Whenever they sight game near an oasis
They race to its outskirts with their hunting beasts

88. Or Labw, where the land is marked out for their abode
With sands of Hajoun or the fields of Haraith

89. The counsel of ‘Amr son of Malik I convey
And of Kindah's lineage, no false words

90. Who will inform Mildad and Buhzurj
And their tribe, masters of ignoble traits

91. Who will take the sturdy rope to the chieftain
And those spinning circles, ever gyrating?

92. Men from the living Hayy clan, ‘Amr ibn Malik
And Kinda, elders, not vainglorious boasts

93. Beware, the only plan that will save you
Is mending your fibers and trimming your frays

94. The signs of days creeping up on you
With forces of rebels and betrayers

95. Contingents from Hayy al-Qarwath and Jafar
With a noisy troop and clamoring warriors