1. Is fate but a night and a day
And the rising and setting of the sun?

2. My heart is set on Umm 'Amr alone
And my passion for her burns like fire

3. The slanderers chide me for loving her
Though her virtues outweigh their calumny

4. Let not the slanderers rejoice that I've shunned her
While my night and day are darkened without her

5. If I offer her excuses, I'll be called a liar
And if she offers excuses, they'll be thrown back at her

6. Mother of Khishf is no 'Alaiya or Shadin
Sipping pure wine where vines flourish

7. Fond of partridge stew, pigeon roast
A fruitful oasis shadows her abode

8. She revels through the blooming months of Rabee'
As prosperity and comfort have passed her by

9. And the berries have darkened her mouth
The hue of light, yet her face is rosy

10. More beautiful than this was the day she rose and turned away
Hiding her tears when fate turned against her

11. As if she bore brow stained with pure wine
A freed aroma her perfumes once traded

12. Freed from shackles, how coachmen admired her gait
And alleys exalted her glory and honor

13. None may have her, not even in dire destitution
Daughters of labor, bleak and meager their lives

14. They sip the wine till their cheeks blush red
As if it were the gleam of her bracelets

15. Rouse them after rest, they shudder and stir
Like startled partridges, shy and timid

16. When the cooking pots are hot, we fan their flames
Ventilating gently, slowly turning their spits

17. If you sever my rope, or change lovers, among you
Are those of poor repute and base character

18. When a she-camel's milk dries up, udder grows slack
My whip will ready her, though her excuses continue

19. Bows strung taut then left loose, neglected
Their cords snapped, frames cracked and spine disjointed

20. Then I'm right to end her time with praise
Without dishonor as we part our ways

21. With Ibn 'Anbas gone, I've learned patience
While fate stokes the flames of grief and sorrow

22. A shaggy-armed Khiljam, fierce when wars rage on
And their bitterness sears, cruelty prolongs

23. His sword strikes down the bravest heroes
When the fray embroils, blades shredded and severed

24. With blows that smash bones, such is their power
And stabs like stampeding horses, spears straight and centered

25. The stealthy stab that pierced Murishsha
Neat as rending a cloak, precise and measured

26. Smooth strokes paving their path
Entrails of the craven strewed in bloody swathes

27. With the fine steed Al-'Anid concealed
By the bare plain, landmark blurred and faded

28. Galloping strides casting off garments
As if a herd of ibex bolting, startled and racing

29. Foremost when the sun rose red as perfume
And the warriors' surging like camels, marching in train

30. When the army recoiled and retreated in haste
As their zeal expired and fires raged within

31. You are as Nu't the hypocrite, decrying the crime
While the victim's blood stained her robes

32. Ask about me, and you'll hear when wanton women drink
The best we can do, though many fall from grace

33. For feasts we slaughter fat rams
When people's provisions are lean, and cattle thin

34. Stallions dark from the meadows amid us
If we cannot ride them, we fatten them up

35. They have lyres with dangling plectra
Like the anklets of wayward slave girls disgraced