1. Did you not see that our neighbors rebelled
While our purpose and theirs were poles apart?

2. My tears are smooth pearls which freely flow
Down precipices, as befits their start

3. You lost Suleima when you cast her off;
Yet, for her memory you are sick at heart

4. Bid her farewell, though she's a gracious dame
Of refined manner and delicate art

5. She charms a man with lively badinage
And gives him looks that pierce him like a dart

6. For if tomorrow you but saw us lead
A herd of camels, bleating as we start,

7. As ransom for my aunts, Bani Huyay's kin,
Especially the day men's souls depart,

8. They showed patience - lifelong their fortitude -
When straitened circumstances played their part,

9. So they repelled death's grip till it relaxed
Its hold, when nearly past hope's final mart

10. Thurayf's absence made us ill at ease
Some being with the others quick to take umbrage

11. So they advanced, their company a chill,
Like a torrent we found hard to dispart,

12. We walked towards them and they walked to us,
Saying: "this day rights will be paid their part!"

13. We shot them with arrows in their faces
That choked their throats and pierced them to the heart

14. You would think our arrows in their midst were locusts
Guided by a shrewd and skillful art,

15. It amazes me to see among them
A warrior, save for his hands, in one piece, a part,

16. Brandishing a naked sword wherein
Are death's fangs or else a piercing dart,

17. We found the lotus tree infirm and frail
Though its spring was once its strength and counterpart,

18. We met Jahim - Tha'labah bin Sayr's ally -
Ruinous to those he rallies or holds apart,

19. When the flags of some boys became visible
And some of them the horsemen put to flight and scared,

20. They turned away from Amr bin Awf's sons,
Though the days of life for them were gentle and choice from the start,

21. We lunged with spears - deadly blows
Not grazing helmets - all mankind's mortal part,

22. We surmounted death's pangs with honor intact,
While Tha'labah's slayer's wounds spilled blood red as rich paint,

23. Our battle's fury, when we joined the fight
Was like Aba'ah's blaze with fierce sparks that dart,

24. With every group of horse, and every horseman
A young man's fingers or else a battered head, a part,

25. And many a lord of ours and many a lord of theirs
Lay prone at Thu'al-Tharaf, his speech a final soft sigh ere depart,

26. With every warrior whose gaping wounds
I left on a youth whose smile was kind and his speech gentle, mild,

27. We sated the beasts, and they sated them
Till all withdrew, having eaten their fill - nay, more than their part,

28. We left the lame crouching over them
While crows gloated, cawing their surfeit till they were distraught,

29. Their women wept and they wept for our women,
Unseemly their weeping and wild their cries and lamentations that start,

30. Answering keening with all sorts of wails
Till their voices were harsh and hoarse, broken from anguish of heart,

31. We killed Al-Harith Al-Waddah, that knight;
He fell as though his neck was cut with a sharp blade,

32. Spears of Bani Huyay's sons reached him,
He fell like a bucket pulled up from a well by rope, unstrung,

33. And they, with him, killed one of our lads,
A generous soul, untainted by sins that curse and malign,

34. Tha'labah bin Sayr charged at Sa'ilah
And Sa'ilah destroyed Tha'labah, that fateful day.

35. Yet Ibn Qurran escaped, wounded,
The holes gaping in him like the hollow of a flask scorched black as if coal-charred

36. His sturdy she-camel cleaved the earth
With her flowing tail, and he guided her steadily though his body was marred,

37. When they despaired of our patience,
The tribes were reminded of their duties, pact, oath - honor's reward,

38. We remained steadfast, though had we left
We'd be denounced as people who wouldn't lead or follow toward,

39. We brought woe upon them and glory upon us
In every stance you will find us staunch, faithful to our word!