1. I swore by the Lord of those dancing to Minā,
A companion, and the Lord of those standing on the rope,

2. If I owned the world and whatever equals it,
And a camel for someone else, I would not want but a camel.

3. Would you shun a camel or blame it for being a camel?
A camel, soft-mouthed, drawing closer the connection.

4. So I found solace in a camel, and found solace when Shamṭā’ cured
Many days of living with the bitterness of anguish.

5. She lived healthy with a life of ease,
Seeing beauty that she not die of jest.

6. Her Lord decreed a husband for her, so she married
A lawful one, though she had not hoped for a husband.

7. She counted the months of pregnancy until they ended,
And she gave birth to a slit, no baseness, no defect.

8. So the tribe rushed to her, and all the pure-eyed gathered for her,
Yearning for excellence.

9. When a rider appeared whom a heroic woman loved,
A stranger, unlike them in people and form.

10. He said to them, “Conspire with a thousand masked men,
Tall bones, no weaklings or cowards.”

11. So they discussed in secret, then handed over
To her son command of the group and the deed.

12. And he said to them, “You have burdened me,
So do not abandon me, neither associate nor let down.”

13. When he was girded with the garb of war and stood
On the back of a nimble purebred steed,

14. They went, and gave him the banner, and tested
The auspices of the blessed, its guide like me.

15. He marched with them until he turned aside at Murjaḥinna,
Where the desert narrows, sincere in slaughter.

16. When the two ranks met, there was charging
And stabbing by it—mouths conjoined, fierce.

17. A long day, then defeat turned
His men, without weakness or desertion.

18. He said to them, with horses fleeing with them,
And their eyes, from what they fear, like hills:

19. “On your mounts! I will protect your saddles,
And who can prevent fate but a man like me?”

20. While he protected them and wheeled behind them,
A keen judge of the gaps in horsemen and footmen,

21. A fiery stallion plunged, knowing that
When the people flee, spent are the arrows,

22. He could not but stab once
Deep in the ribs, piercing the vitals.

23. He fell, and his horse wheeled, mourning him
And speaking well at a distance and to his kin.

24. As they approached the camp, a shouter called out
Upon the heedless women, who were on howdahs.

25. She rose toward Moses, to slaughter herself,
Hastened by grief and fear for bereavement,

26. She had barely risen before he came as he began,
Returning her address—one with a resonant voice.

27. So I found solace in a camel, and my joy in Tīk,
As she before me joyed in her son.

28. Will you be distracted from us, O cousin, so you do not see
Miserliness as blameworthy? It will lead to preoccupation.

29. Joking and screening between me and him
With verses, like a cat passing through the bowels.