1. Stand before parting, O leader,
And bid farewell before you depart.

2. I am disturbed and saddened, O mother of Bakr,
By the prayer of a dove calling to her kind.

3. My concerns kept me awake at night
To console a heart seized by passion.

4. When the mother of Bakr comes to mind,
My heart spends the night as if drunk on wine.

5. A smooth-necked gazelle grazing at sunset,
Cloaked in a thick, dark coat.

6. My heart refused all but her,
Though its love for her was a sin.

7. All my friends sleep at night
While my eyes refuse to sleep.

8. I stay up late with the Pleiades,
My tears flowing ceaselessly.

9. Once as I herded, my head felt
As if a poisonous insect stung it.

10. The guards hurried until they startled her,
And the rope snapped as it jerked and broke.

11. As long as I live, I'll never leave,
Delighting in the memory of her passion.

12. You wish for her though she is far away,
And time has passed, year after year.

13. A smooth-necked gazelle with ankles and shins
Bent under her weight when she stands.

14. Of shapely legs, the fullness at her ankles
Visible when she moves her lower half.

15. She has a face pure and clear,
With character that shames the vile.

16. A neck adorned with a strand of pearls
And gems set in order upon it.

17. When she smiles, the flash of lightning shines,
Rippling through the darkness.

18. When she inclines on her side, it is like
Shifting sand dunes billowing in the air.

19. Whoever sees her standing is amazed
By a summer cloud bursting with rain.

20. Sitting, she is a doll in a festive house
Veiled, barely visible at all.

21. When she walks, it is like the creeping of a stream,
Winding then straightening its course.

22. If I complained to her of my complaints,
Even a stone would echo my words.

23. I love her nearness and she loves my distance,
Veiled from praise, refusing it.

24. Remembering Umm Bakr, I am like one
Wounded by arrows complaining of their pain.

25. It destroys me when she is angry,
And is gloomy and downcast.

26. I haunt the desolate encampments she left,
Abandoned, except for tent stakes or tent cloth.

27. A dream whose sides have crumbled,
Its structure like a temporary nomad's tent.

28. As if al-Bukhthuriya, mother of Khashf,
Camped in al-Junaynah, so farewell!

29. She circles around at daybreak when
Loneliness brings her to gloomy sands.

30. Greet me and know I am generous,
My sweetness mixed with bitterness.

31. I was created to confront those who oppose me,
A stalwart horse bred for battle.

32. By your father! I'll never forget you
Until we lie side by side in the grave.

33. The clan of Shaddakh knows when I
Join the fray, I plunge into the thickest of it.

34. I am no poet of frivolities or crimes
Under the cover of darkness.

35. Rather, when I war against a people,
I prepare for them a destructive assault.

36. I protect my honor unless I fear injustice,
The tyranny of people, for they are tyrannical.

37. When a house lacks supports,
The branches of its trunk collapse.

38. I will recite verses in praise
Of the best of men, singling out the generous.

39. Ikrimah son of Rabīʿah, when the people
Are routed by sharp swords,

40. Is more ferocious than a lion of the jungle
Whose mighty roar shakes the hills.

41. The brother of Trustworthiness, between us there is nobility,
He who is wronged but does not wrong in return.

42. He sees some words as fair, obligatory to fulfill,
And others as forbidden to the questioner.

43. A man who does not insult the ignoble
Except by their own praise, which he sees as blame.

44. As if his cauldrons are on the top of a salt marsh
High on a hilltop exposed.

45. The cooking pots are piled inside them,
Their joints just bones.

46. Its fuel is the bones of others
So it never stops burning hot.

47. As if those circling them are hunters
Who saw prey and closed in on it.

48. If the trenches were his, they would be
An abundant feast for whoever enters his dwelling.

49. You have outdone, O sons of Ruwaym,
Those who fled from the west in defeat.

50. The efforts of other honored people fall short,
While your glory is perfected.

51. He has a sea that drowned all seas—
No isthmus or strait can match it.

52. He sees rights for the guest and neighbor
And considers the interests of his companions.

53. When times get cold he treats both
The prosperous and destitute equally.

54. He races to glory,
A pigeon racing toward its nest.

55. Dawn's light reveals him clearly,
Too proud for anyone to blame.

56. In them are the roots of truthfulness,
A tribe whose first was their leader.

57. When the neighbor settles among them
On the lofty summits of cedar trees,

58. They take up arms for whoever comes to them
With the fire of war blazing hot.

59. He gives generous gifts and excellent character,
Noble and steadfast in hardships.

60. And a grumbling miser with great ambitions
Who, when resolved, is firmly determined.

61. Tall, of excellent character,
His loud cry strips away the loincloths.

62. I have not seen a horseman train his mare,
Or a magnificent king, as well as him.