1. To the daughter of Hittan son of Awf’s homesteads
Are like the lines the scribe has traced upon parchment

2. I took shade in them shaggy-haired and hot
As one crazed with fever was wont in Khaibar's vales

3. The ostriches flock there under their shade as though
They were slave girls showing their charms after nightfall

4. My boon friends among noble clans coming together
And those of great merit which no companion could equal

5. Long have I lived and raiders were my companions
But my true friends were those whom I befriended

6. A comrade to him whom I supported and held his rope
While from pitfalls preserved by a kinsman and neighbor

7. Of the heat of youth I myself did thus dispose
And wealth today for me hath both keeper and earner

8. Each tribe of Ma'add hath a home tow'rd which to retire
And precincts to which they may turn and take refuge

9. Lukayz—hers are both seas with the sword ...in its entirety
And should war against her come from India's environs

10. They take wing from the backs of coursers as though they were
Rain clouds that have shed their waters and wander forlorn

11. And Bakr owns the Iraq; and if she desire
Before her the Hejaz's summit itself is a barrier

12. And Tamim between Qufays and Ramla doth stand
With her tents' cords far stretched and diverse are her confines

13. And Kalb with is lair—while to fierce forays go they of Ramla
Against the free clans where the squadrons fight and collide

14. While life and glory of Ghassan amidst their own Folk
Is with spears defended by warriors formed into columns

15. And the clan of Bahra we know well their place of abode
Partners they amidst the Ruṣāfa but none they beside

16. And Iyad hath swooped o'er the black land while below them
Are the foreign Ujums who for combatants seek and take pride

17. To Lakhm belong all the Kings and unto them
Doth one yield when their chieftain issueth decree

18. While we are a folk ne'er constrained by the Hejaz
What rain brings to us we accept be it loss be it pride

19. Thou wouldst see tribes' steeds curved round our abodes
Like goats of the Hejaz from grazing debarred by foreign hordes

20. To spend the night huddled together the same as themselves
For they from trespassing deterred are blocked off as toward

21. Their horsemen of Taghlib and Bakr's progeny
Fearsome and fierce no baseness in them is spied

22. They smite rams white streaked with blood from their blows
Over faces like shooting stars in the darkness descried

23. With milch camels whose udders they hasten to drain
As if stirring white sauce for the stars to divide

24. And if our swords prove short tis our brown lances' long reach
Gainst the foe where we ride and our ranks crash and collide

25. Thus my clan is for me better than any clan known
When together are kings and noble clans far and wide

26. I see that from them every tribe doth descry
Falling short of their deeds howsoever they tried

27. I see them all stoop beneath yoke of their rule
While we cast loose their yoke running free far and wide