1. Why is she so inclined to severing affection?
Each day she startles me with separation.

2. I knew not yearning nor longing until
The chambers shone for me over the carpets.

3. So we stood atop the hills as pearls
Dripped from laughing eyes in the gardens.

4. In meadows that borrowed for her sake
Raiment of smiles and joy’s cheer.

5. Joy is a frisky doe giving to drink
Draughts from the folds, the coolness of breasts.

6. She did not recognize me, so I said do not deny me -
I have not changed my nature nor habit.

7. If you look upon me, you look upon a polished sword
Gleaming from the smiths’ anvils.

8. Second to the night, third to the ruinous darkness,
Boon companion to the stars, weaned on vigilance.

9. The verdure spoke to me, making me after you
An eye upon the worth of the lands.

10. A night in Syria, then a day in Al-Ahwaz
And a night in the blackness.

11. My homeland is where my camel knelt,
My arm the pillow and it the bed.

12. I have from poetry dignity and pride
And an assault upon harsh matters.

13. So if I build a house priding itself
It is as if I built Dhat al-Imad.

14. Or as if I wove the weave of Ziyad,
Or as if I were Abu Du'ad al-Iyadi.

15. I have two helpers: aspiration and my pride -
That is of my pedigree and this of my upbringing.

16. I have two companions: a star and darkness -
They do not betray my company and affection.

17. I have from fate every day a hardship -
My separation from my fellow tribesmen and the scarcity of my provision.

18. I speak of nothing but the speech of Kulayb,
Bujayr, and Al-Harith ibn Ubad.