1. My neighbor's camels are prepared today
They severed the cord of an old friend

2. The howdahs are loaded on the camels
All halted over a kneeling-place

3. Of globes, whose fringes are drapes
The dark-eyed gazelles look through autumn's mist

4. Humble, displaying overgowns of silk
And lining them with curtains below

5. They urged the camels to walk gently
Laden with brocade and purple of Al-Katif

6. Following their passions, following desires
While my heart is smitten with passion for them

7. Sporting with the sleeping mate when she keeps night vigil
Without gloom, neither bread nor fodder

8. Verily, the whiteness has saddened them, so they veiled themselves
From us with a barrier, blocked off

9. So learn, when grey appears in the hair, that youth is no ally
And leave talk of my night's pleasure, for you know not my strength or disposition

10. And we accompanied the family of Jafnah, noble lords
In Syria, land of plenty

11. And the Banu Mundhir, ash-colored, walking in Al-Hirah at dawn like swords
And Julanda in Oman, then Qais in Hazramawt's meadows

12. Sitting, while the boon-companions surround him, giving no pause
Until wine is brought in a pitcher

13. And music, when excited by drink, throbs in a freshened rhythm
While man is like cracked old leather evened out by the tanner

14. Or a vessel of palm leaves patched by the smith, concealing its cracks with tar
Misled by fate until he returns, after his walk, to vagrancy

15. And from the she-camels, women difficult to drive, exhausted after night journey, empty
They have risen above the grayish gravel plain and come to a dreadful place

16. Verily I prepare the warriors of my tribe and make ready for some grave affair
With the valor of warriors excavating the oppression of past kings on the anxious lands

17. Independent, reproaching the warriors after nightfall with other than logic
Then with the first light he stirs up a wind-blown dust with light shoes

18. If we avoid him in the emptiness of the desert or match his forearm with a task
I do not doubt that would restrain him, without pulling the bridle beneath the beard