1. Take the road to the right of the curve, O riders,
To ask that living man what the flock has done,

2. Maybe good news will revive the vitality of a languishing man,
Languishing with love-nothing can quench its burning in his heart,

3. In his heart a fire of longing blazes, fanned
By sighs of passion that distance cannot extinguish.

4. Oh, would I knew-while events throng together
And Time is a sword that brooks no withstanding,

5. If after we left that fertile pasturage still
Affords good grazing to them, and if its sweet watering-places

6. Still flow,
And whether the north valley put forth its fruits

7. And clusters bent down the boughs of its thick-planted gardens,
And if, after we had gone, the place agreed with a company

8. Where the ground of the encampment adjoins the highway,
And if they feel there a grief and yearning like ours

9. When love makes loving bitter to the lover.
Does the daughter of the wine-seller know that I

10. Am distracted by none but her, neither waver nor rave but for her alone?
She is white as the moon, lovely and shapely,

11. Adorning the dyed gown and soft raiment.
When the women of the camp walk abroad, she excels them,

12. Drawing all eyes; the connoisseur of beauty is perplexed by her,
And among them she passes all compare or rival.

13. She made her appearance like a Dinor struck in gold, and coy glances
And gestures of consent attended her; she saw me and disclosed

14. A wrist like creamy silver, round which desire writhes tortured.
She said, “Strange man”, and the girl was strange;

15. In the lawful wedding of free-born mates there is no crime or sin.
I said to her, “I am a familiar friend; I cherish a passion here,

16. And I have no comrades or tribe in Baghdad.”
She said, “Where are thy tribe and thy comrades, and where is this passion?”

17. I said, “ Where war and thrust of spear and blow are rife.”
She said, “I see the Bahrain is thy country, passion

18. For kinsfolk fills thee; but where is the tribe?”
I said, “Question the Hai encampment of Nizar and Ma’ad

19. Concerning their mightiest in urgent need when need stands confessed;
And ask them who of all our lineage, ancient or recent,

20. Was noblest in descent when the line of descent was traced;
And which smites hardest in battle and fray with levelled lance-head

21. When the dust of confusion bedims the horizons and the two hosts tremble;
And which deals foulest death to a king who bares his cheek,

22. Steadfast in maintaining dominion and marshaling his armies;”
Then she said, “By my life, they are Rabi'a -

23. The daughters of grandeur, not curs nor whelps!”
And she continued, “Had you but questioned Rabi'a one day

24. Who prostrate East and West to them, and asked them
Which of them all was most generous in former and latter time,

25. And purest in lineage when the line of sons gives place to sons,
The learned would inform you that Rabi'a

26. Were a mill that grinds down the seed of Abraham's son.
They are all mankind, and people beside them are but surplusage

27. When a matter of weight impends, whom none but the valiant dare shoulder.
By them may a distant goal be attained, and in their dwelling

28. He who seeks favour finds one of open hand amid fertile pastures;
In them resides the pact of munificence by ancestral right

29. Bequeathed from father to newborn son.
But for their resolute hands and bounty of their nature

30. Earth would slip its tackle and the stars be numbered.
Lightly they move to answer War's imperative when it calls them,

31. Hard to drive when their blows fall heavy and thick.
When a neighbor is stripped, their wealth belongs to the neighbor,

32. Shared equally, seized neither by fraud nor force.
Twixt the Nile and Sinai all hearkened to their command,

33. Even unto Syria where palms and convents arise.
At the thought of their dominions the souls of the Byzantines quaked,

34. And fire invaded the kings of Hind when her hosts were Light of hand to a summons of war, slow to refuse;
Most often dressed in Yemeni brocade, not homespun.

35. For them two fires burn eternally-one warms them
With desire, the other knows no quenching of rage;

36. Two days are theirs - a day to grant the seeker his wish,
When bounty flows from them like the zephyr's breath not once but ever;

37. And a day when the horses say, the swords and the levelled lance-heads,
By them, and war, we were glutted, and battle surfeited.

38. If they are taxed with fell dearth, their homes
Are laden pulpits, not mere wicker-work and reed.”

39. Behold, by the life of love! they are my people I summon or name!
And among them I boast myself nobler than the praised or blame

40. I dwell among them in honour; I choose them and cleave to their tie;
And he who is most steadfast of soul when souls falter and bend is myself.

41. Yet I stand here removed from them, an exile,
Not of my will, but Fate drove me to remoteness from their midst.

42. They are my heart core, my spirit and reason to be;
Though Fate forbid my tread their soil or near approach to their abodes

43. In them I have a sword that flashes lightning
When I unsheathe it against Time to make him cower, a craven hound

44. Though the sword's edge may mostly disappoint expectation
And fail and falter, mine never fails or falters

45. A noble scion whose lofty aspirations
The ambitions of chieftainship could not contain

46. He takes up a burden of public cares, resolving them
While sleep still locks his peers in its embrace

47. A son of grandeur by early merit made his own,
So he attained high station while youths still slept

48. He is the full moon, only no veil hides his bright rays;
The full moon's light cannot be covered by veils

49. He is the lion, only the woods and hollows serve him for lurking-places;
He is the trenchant blade, but every hardened spear-shaft is his kin

50. He deals death, but kills not in unjust revenge;
He is the sea, though his watering-place is sweet

51. And never since squadrons were arrayed in battle has any host prevailed against him but that the victory was his;
Nor has any ancient domain, proud of its power, contested with him the field but that the advantage was his.

52. Wonderful tales have come to me concerning him,
That make the listeners thrill and the troubled heart rejoice–

53. Of gentle kindness towards his kin that no treachery taints;
Of standing firm against their enemies, which admits no doubt or denial;

54. And of surrounding his people with a mail of ardour against attack
So dread departed from them and the commonalty grew at ease

55. Father of Majid, look on those tied to you by blood
With an eye of goodwill that sees not the spy and mischief-maker

56. For the love free from all alloy knows nothing of dissension s wiles,
While discord peering maliciously for flaws is the mark of the worthless.

57. Scorn me not if I seek alliance outside the clan:
When you summon them in your hour of need, they hang back or hurry away, Bagatelles bearing falsehoods lightly as straws, rather air Itself-

58. I excel them by so much in height, the manifest difference of low and high ground!
I vow by my life had you not borne me flawless goodwill

59. To the land of Bahrain the ride had not drawn me to rugged wastes
And again, thoughts broidered in fancy's loom

60. Store I have that shall endure however time succeed time
These from all but you I withhold and guard

61. Though dead bones should be sent to quicken at the incantations magic might revive
Then keep my cheek from being smitten in request though life

62. Were held less dear than lays flowed smooth as silk
And put back much of mean substance whose spending

63. Maintains nestling whose reach famine has withered and starved
For your sea though tossing has depth, your land

64. Though small has width, and is free of reef and of bar