1. The imagination roamed over us the night of the valley
For the family of Asma, no tryst has been fixed

2. Whence did you find guidance to a caravan whose journey was prolonged
In the twisting of a valley between pounding and knots

3. They task the saddlebags, each saddle they put to work
Like the bellows when the blower kindles it

4. Take word to Abū Karib and his family
A saying that will fade into the wilderness after being transmitted

5. O Amr, no people have departed nor migrated
Except that to their traces the guide of death leads

6. So if you see in a valley a male serpent
Then go, and leave me to contend with the valley’s serpent

7. I will recognize you after death mourning me
And in my life you did not provision me

8. Before you is a day you will attain
Neither present nor absent can escape it

9. Look to the shade of a kingdom you are leaving
Can you peg down its tent poles?

10. Go away from me, for I am of the Banū Asad
People of tents and open country and pasture

11. I leave the bow yellowed, its strings discolored
As if its wrappings were steeped in weld

12. I strung it while the horses' forelocks were bleached
Dun is their groom behind them, visible