1. You shot me with yearning, so my tears poured down
Like the longing of mature she-camels or twittering doves

2. Yes, weariness has returned to my heart after
Spending the evening with my companions at Yabrin's stop

3. By God, whatever it conceals in its depths—
A censurer censuring the singing girls affectedly

4. The moaning of doves provokes it and a soft wind
That blows upon its edges from the gentle breeze

5. And al-Ghayran's waters kindle in it an eye when it sees
The bending branches of Huzwa with the slender and pliant

6. Does the living Yemeni promise and threaten me
Like your frowning with knit brows is impassioned?

7. I lay out my hearing for his threat since my love for her
When she winked slyly at me was gentle

8. And around me is a band of warriors
When they grew angry, the earth quaked beneath them

9. They drag the trains of their coats of mail into battle
So I strengthen them while their love for her weakens me

10. But by God's majesty, were it not for fearing Him
The well-woven cloak would conceal us both

11. And the secret is broken between me and her
By words the eloquent conveyer relates artfully

12. And a complaining young lover disputed with me
From behind the curtain, his girdled garment fluttering

13. About a girl of Maytha's, whose garden was delighted
By a clouds that wept from late night, gently dripping

14. And a band riding the sand dunes of Al-Kara
Successive journeys jostled them to and fro

15. You see the signs of slavery on their pallid faces
On which their glances reflect pensively

16. And Khuza'a's women they lead, swaying in the expanse
When the insistent driver hurried them on

17. It bends its valleys when they rise up through them
Bent over from old age, its poles well constructed

18. Cypresses and the commoners’ boughs, struck by the breeze
Until their fluttering touches the ground beneath them

19. ‘Amr blamed me for travels and nocturnal journeys
Not knowing that I circle the heights

20. No falcon surveys its hunting grounds more loyally
Than I when I glimpse her litter from afar

21. I distract my suspicions from covert matters
Until I see that cloud withdraw

22. I jest about lights though dawn is rising
Unable to find my way by the stars and the night is murky

23. And words came to me while disasters pressed round
With an army from Dhat al-Arakah approaching

24. I lower my gaze from them in shame at glory
And affinity for you, while relationships grow tender

25. Complaining though I circulated praises among you
As the croaking of frogs mingles with rainwater

26. My cousins, do not attribute us to perfidy
For no habitual transgressor lingers among Kinana

27. Should I insult an old man who wrapped my forearms with his
A counterpart whose nobility in Quraysh is paramount?

28. And blame men in my tribe who are its nobles
When the remnants of paganism live on in my impudence?

29. When discourse grows turbulent, I am a competitor
Whose words rebuke and threaten punishment

30. I defend your reputations with poems
In which glory moves unchecked during their composition

31. I did not invent them out of desire for your bounty
Even if the host partakes of it

32. Rather, the spirit of pure Arabness in me
Protects the sons of Nizar and disdains

33. We are the Banu Dudan, a branch of Khuza’a
Before whom even the Lord of High Rank bows

34. While you, possessing ancient glory, embrace us
A laughing father in whom glory finds intimacy

35. Your abodes tower while caravans from all horizons
Pass by below, the foolish babbler astonished

36. Your glory is refuge for the shriek
When twisted by the tyranny of unjust oppressors

37. Your valley is prepared for generous deeds
Spacious, welcoming the seekers of bounty gathered there

38. In its corners are tempting glimpses
Permitted to them though violations were feared

39. Wandering by the gates of domed pavilions whose households—
Were busied with the milking of ewes

40. And their mothers concluded pacts and attained
The heights, while the heroes in white enter familiarly

41. How many kings have we fettered by his legs
Who remained collapsing into his footsteps confused

42. So O Nizar, a hostile call
Where blood gurgles in the jugular veins

43. For the heights we have a goal sought by none
Save an Asadi in whom Khindif took pride