1. I knew a deserted quarter,
Empty ruins in the belly of peaks,

2. Overpowered and changed by vicissitudes -
Successive pilgrimages of descendants.

3. Created as though the soil of edifices
Swept by its foundations with winnowers,

4. As though it had spread the terraces
Among which tents of poles were planted.

5. The mixed throng of both callers was seen
In haste between the two swift ones.

6. And the rider was separated from the rider
Of strength and the bonds of kinship.

7. They arrived at nightfall and at dawn
To Al-Jawshin and Al-Asail.

8. With lambs obeying the shepherds
For the one driving the stragglers;

9. Leaders daring the shore
Of glory opposite and facing.

10. So they went on, and my companions said
In the shadow of bending oh mentor!

11. Calm before the winds of the bells
For bees among them and barriers.

12. Between correct and leaning
Its pegs are the tent poles ornamented with burdens.

13. And the pillar of its center
Are spiked Yemeni partitions.

14. And appointed over it
Of the cooking and embers were.

15. Until when the shadows bent
After the trotting of Mudaris

16. And knees of the camels gave birth
And the hollows of ostriches

17. From between its pastures or wadis
Inverted with the ties of resolutions and crises

18. They watched the shepherdesses when they were summoned
With luggage and travelling companies,

19. With baby camels and tents
Adorned for them the anklets’ harmony,

20. Until there passed by us, laughing,
Through a thicket of cotton, carrier.

21. They were heading to the ancestors, the predecessors,
Of brilliance, attack, and struggle.

22. So they startled when they recognized someone standing
Below the flag and below the standard.

23. They saw the gazelles. They heard the voice
Of a snarling cur or a howling baboon.

24. I continued lending them
Talk from truth or lies.

25. And I exerted myself. Then I said
In lower jesting of jesters:

26. Words that almost descend
More logical than great minds.

27. And I poured on them from the right, once,
And from the qualities another time.

28. Like the shepherd when he handled
The unforeseen game that assails.

29. Until I made them listen
To my talk after the shooting of arrows

30. And they submitted to me in some
Submission instead of conflict and dispute

31. And they glanced through the bushes
With the eyes of startled cows

32. From everyone seen
With cheeks and mole on fingertips

33. Silent, resembling the dwellings
Of the Sabbath ghosts in repose

34. Or a ewe yearning for the object
Of love of the parts and joints

35. As though the air makes its garment flutter
With the fans of the disputants

36. The knights of darkness dressed it
With their black hands in mourning

37. So its sleeping innards
Seem like the bellies of pregnant she-camels

38. Were it not for the watching of eyes
When they winked and someone said

39. And fear of the telling of the anecdote
In the assembly and gatherings

40. And conviction of repeated news
Of problems and entanglements

41. And my watching for a tomorrow and what
I mean by overflowing saying

42. After the farewells I certainly healed
The pillars from entanglements

43. From me and you at the edge
Of advancing resources and streams

44. Far from it! It has spoiled what you have
Of connections and means

45. And your rope frayed when you avoided
What spoils from ropes

46. And you were miserly to destiny
In appeasing the flatterers

47. With a reader that effaces
Remembrance of joining ties

48. You roam confused, not pitched
Nor awake, nor grazing to the mounts

49. And you recalled the people of Ruwaimah
Deluded memory of the like!

50. The smell of estrangement from endearment
Pure hide of mature she camels

51. And closing of swollen
Returning high and low

52. Its habit to you is bewildered, addled
I uncover its darkness with the union

53. Of owl’s gatherings disgraced!
Like one whose wounds left him

54. Naught but rags
Clothed when they meet

55. With rough coarse wool
From hastened feeble

56. Or azure color
Of ewes drawing udders

57. Like kohl
Periods separated Al-Rabee

58. From pasturage and runnels
Until when the she camels bellow

59. And are like palm trees
He recalls the fodder. And in the fodder

60. The remainder of fodders had melted
Or a bundle of pistachios remained

61. With little pregnant ewes
Whites that warble as though they

62. Are texts of Indian swords
So he drives them on and carries them

63. To the absence of carriers
He watches over their valleys and joins

64. The distant outcast throng
They say, “Enough!” and he continues

65. Persistent plunging
Kindler of fires on live coals

66. When the clashes became tumultuous
I relied on you O Yazeed

67. And excellent is the relied upon means
I hope for supererogation from your hands

68. And you have abundant supererogation
With a visit that wipes out

69. The breeds with us, firm and shouldered
Does it increase, O son of Zarah’s horsemen

70. And protective allies for allies
And son of the crowned for the crowned

71. And eminent for the eminent
And son of dodder for the dodder

72. Mischievous, scheming, undertaker
And the elders, the early ones

73. Wealthy and of lasting renown
And the middle aged disputants

74. The tallest in rivalry
And the defenders, the benefactors

75. For every confused person’s means
And the most fragrant, the most generous

76. The superior in preference
And son of the most courageous and noble

77. Of early great effects
And son of the daring, son of resolve

78. Of effects and possessions
The most courageous son of the noble

79. To each by devious contriving
He attained the loftiest of matters

80. When they were undertaken
And if mounts collide

81. In prosperity or tremors
The people of Iraq have no business with him

82. Without familiarity or alliance
And you see in his presence

83. Of dignity and the assembly of tribes
Between newcomers he greets

84. And departing streams
Good is the climate to him if you

85. Ward off intimacy or descent
It gives hopes when asked

86. To fulfill what gives every hopeful ambition
And it is generous from a fresh eye

87. West torrent valley streams
Neither diminishing of waters nor

88. Illness of enterers from entrances
Does it increase, O pillar of glory

89. For the garlanded and every doer?
A king whom kings obey

90. Keener sighted than abandoned mounts
You see him host the noble

91. And doing good, undertaken
Immersing the arts in attainment

92. When the hand’s lion prevailed
Uttering conversation, saying

93. To the silent the separated joints
Below the closed eye

94. From exits and entrances
I seek refuge in your conquest, O Yazeed

95. It is time to detach relations
In the confused roads of purpose

96. And the meeting place of rising valleys
He mixed the armies with armies

97. And bombs with bombs
In every lofty, brilliant

98. Dusk or twilight
Renewing traces, having much Müd

99. And stirring the reckless souls
Like the mewing of wild cats when

100. The storyteller cannot say, a sayer said
You continued waving over your head

101. A flag atop a standard
Shading its shadows the corpses

102. Of possessor of supplies and floods
Scattering the heap and leaving

103. What comes from streams
With picks in which flags

104. Appear between intervals of rain
In which the drinking horns of blood appear

105. To warble from a body and means
And indeed you were patient from harm

106. And the measuring of measurers
So you went out initiating

107. The vanguards of the early tribe
And your house took the most virtuous that settled

108. At the peak of the highest dunes
And you descended from the path of lowliness

109. To an impregnable abode
And your traits refused that their surface be razed

110. By the blows of pickaxes
And you attained the best that you sought

111. Of noble deeds and virtues
And you took your moon with the right

112. In winning the traits of the competitor