1. O tribe, is there a friend for me amongst you
Or not, for tomorrow I shall be departing

2. Never should our wishes be in vain
And how evil is the life of futility

3. Shall I sever ties or keep them connected
Or to my beloveds, how much shall I give

4. O tribe, O sister of the sons of Malik
You are in my heart an ever-present preoccupation

5. To fulfill the promise of union you must do
What you said, for the faithful one is the doer

6. Remain constant in the love between us
Let no sayer of separation speak to us

7. Not by revelation or blessing, but rather
This expectation of you is a delusion

8. Or have you despaired, for besides you
Is a wilderness that the lost one wanders

9. For in no or yes there is comfort
Since I entrusted it to you, expectant

10. Of Rayta there remains only wishes
That soon or late shall be fulfilled

11. Would that this love I harbored for her
Would dissolve or be removed by a conveyor

12. I devoted my heart and was devoted to her
Yet no sign of her love can be perceived

13. O most cherished one, be the judge between us
With justice, for the just judge is best

14. Who is this revealer amongst us
One day in life, neither miserly nor withholding

15. So Rayta the sister of Malik's sons
Did not reward me as I had hoped

16. Nor did any man forget to mention her
His tongue is sweet and his favors well-known

17. Wherever the sensible wise man settles
O Rayta do you have one who is constant

18. For I am faithful to those who are faithful to me
How many blamed me, O Rayta, of companion

19. And some of the tribe spoke against me
I said to the critic, advising:

20. Guide your own soul first, O you who find fault
He said to me, how can you desire a man

21. When grey hair covers his temples
If you had known Rayta intimately

22. Her company's gathering would be lively
Like the light of al-Washsha none shot at her

23. Of men nor did any rope pull her
Like the fleeing Maha of the sands in confusion

24. Pursued by the noble and glorious
A free woman whom the protector befriends

25. And the ignorant fool avoids
Every evening they have a visitor

26. No cheerless face nor inactive one
The half-blind Aṣram roams about her

27. More dusty, banned, and disgraced
What if Rayta eluded you

28. And the settled love for her failed you
More desolate than Rayta I would become

29. Then my passion lost after her absence
And all worldly joys she has

30. Are exposed to their people and fleeting
No - by Him whom longingly goes to His house

31. From every steep path, forbidden, descending
I have no inner knowledge of her

32. Though her love has entered and filled me
Can her abode be reached if we come

33. Led by the guessers of secrets who roam
A white oryx you can see its elbow

34. As if a butcher is slaughtering and skinning it
O Rayta, O Rayta, have you not been told of us

35. While the asker praises us
The neighbor, the confidante, the loyal

36. Our favors and the other settling
If you ask about us, you'll be told leaders

37. Among whom are the sweet and the excellent
We prepare for the guests the fat of ostriches

38. For some come and some take
We are the Beni Shaddad, none can reproach them

39. Neither horseman nor foot soldier
The enemies warned each other of our onslaught

40. Their horseman and their footman
Our horses in the valley are combed

41. Like the Sa'alik and the emaciated Qana
We ready them if a group attacks us

42. Or war befalls us with its afflictions
In each assembled troop of its horsemen

43. Are warriors and heroes inclined
They race with the brave towards the fray

44. Their ambition honor which accepts all
Bent-necked, they challenge the battlefield

45. Their meat emaciated like the Maghali
They emerge from Akdur's valley

46. Driven by the rain to Wadi Qatta
With each elder and young champion

47. The hero wards him off with courage
With his palms he irrigates the next morn the fray

48. The chest of the spearpoint and its worker
Most stunning is the warrior with spear thrice bent

49. With it the coats of mail are ripped and torn