1. Oh Agbair, is there a ransomer for your captive?
Or provision for the seeker of companionship?

2. Or does a neighbor's tear dissuade you
When fate's decrees make the noble weep?

3. From a glance I saw at dawn revealed
That none can guide one fated to die.

4. Between the corridor and her gait
And between the litters' curtains drawn

5. Her dove-like steps were cooled
By the black hem of her trailing gown

6. The maid asked about her health as though
She’d just risen from night’s repose

7. A blond beauty, when she dons it
Her braids flow like brooks between hills

8. If you cannot heal a lover’s heartache-
A passion-maddened man who loves you-

9. Then end your image coming to visit
For at every halt he'll dwell on hopes of union.

10. You come at night but the door's barred against you
As if no visitors would enter in

11. Talk to her, your talk may allow you to meet
For she's a fortress, accustomed to guests.

12. Yet womankind, when they please, are estranged
And act the part of distant foes.

13. Indeed, I gained union with one who was aloof,
A difficult conquest, built by men of old.

14. How can you recall her love and purity
Fool, while you dwell in sin's abode?

15. So, an unmanageable lattice and crooked side,
And she descends to others' homes in Iyad,

16. Her headdress held her back by force
Of arrows, whether well-aimed or stray.

17. I hobble my mount in the evening
To drink before the frequented tavern.

18. The white camels bellow and wander far,
Growing up in meadows and sand dunes.

19. I draw them near when they try to avoid me
In the afternoon, weary of my goad.

20. Often I rode out to a fair maid, not fearing
To sacrifice a steed's leading rein.

21. But time has changed that, O Malik's daughter,
And time follows righteousness with corruption.

22. I am a man of the noble Qais tribe,
Prominent-nosed and pure stock.

23. Who walk on the sandals' straps
Through al-Dafani and al-Abrad,

24. Who, when the wine cups are passed around,
Drink pure wine from clear goblets,

25. Who vouch for their tribe on the day of battle,
When glory and ruin shift and alternate.

26. Among them are horsemen on the day of war
Who pounce with hands practiced in thrusting spears,

27. And when the drove-beasts are terrified
By a high-bred mare on an evening of hobbling,

28. Her colts take refuge with the tents
Between the flaps and valleys.

29. They roasted meat for their guests and heated wine,
Clarified butter and seasoned fat.

30. When the cooking pots seemed like Abyssinians
Covered in dust, though few sheep remained,

31. One counseling them would say: Is this not the deed
Of a tribe, rather than the people of ‘Ad?

32. When their clan turns away the pots
Obliquely, unevenly placed,

33. We indeed endow them with gifts and heed their pledge
And requite them with might and equipment.

34. We leave their shameful side and treat them kindly
Though their pastures have gone wild through neglect.

35. No driven beast was he, to be startled and flee,
Plunging into a hollow or waste.

36. When a frantic caller shouts and dust rises high
With tent poles as columns from the earth,

37. Smooth-sided she-camels hasten to you
With lions in their brisk, sure tread.

38. From each swimmer and naked swimmer
Fearing a charging, angry lion.

39. When Qais cannot be seen acting like our Qais
In lineage or sons, scions of nobility.