1. You hope to meet Umm Wahb
In Ukaz when Thaqif gathers,

2. When the tents are pitched in Ukaz
And trade commences as thousands converge.

3. Ukaz calls us for a visit, we shall indeed alight,
Yet you know not that I am the caliph.

4. So you will say, if you do not find me,
Did he break his vow or sin, the ally?

5. I take no heed of a watchful spy
With evil in his heart, if he arrives to blame.

6. I shake his cot and ward him off,
Amulets and seclusion are of no avail.

7. I say to him, “I’ve had my fill of all things.
Does it trouble you that I’m free of worry and fear?”

8. Among the youths he finds a fool,
A stupid, rash, dimwitted lout.

9. As they walk, a raven swoops down
Of ill-omened ravens, clucking aloud.

10. It suggests to the dimwit, whispering in his ear,
“Woe to you! May your mother be bereaved!

11. “In a land with no friend to give you comfort,
With rulers whose kinsman is the caliph.”

12. The fool says, “I see a bird heavy with tidings,
Bearing news of bounty or stirring up fear.”

13. But he found the people had drunk their fill,
Their talk blurred, tongues slow with wine.

14. He saw none but the guards, as ordained,
Like a bowl with cracks, ripe to leak.

15. So he left, taking waterskins full of emptiness,
With outlets like plaited palm-leaves.

16. And he left in the chief of the clan another
That sagged like a sack without a stitch.

17. But when he fell at the basin, they encircled him
And their leader distinguished him from the rest,

18. Saying, “Did you not fear the strokes of death
That swords may pierce and shred you through?”

19. He said, “Yes I feared, and the ravens warned me
Had I been faint of heart or frail.”

20. And he said, upholding his vow to the tribe, “I
Quenched my soul’s thirst, though the wounded perish.”