1. Does the moon speak of the highlands other than it?
A traveler of the winds, erect for it the stalks.

2. It flowed with a trailing dress, fluttering,
Rejecting and flowing, a surging flood.

3. It covers its glories with ink, renewing
From dust, while others come to rob after.

4. A house for the White-Blackened, its carpets
Like a gazelle grazing and standing tall.

5. It sings to kohl it shed in negligence
So its heart quaked from its horror.

6. It neighbored Rajab some days of peace,
Then continued as Rajab remained beneath it.

7. O finest people by scent after its slumber
And saltiest people in eye when veiled!

8. It does not give generously when asked
Nor do I take in the emptiness of vanity.

9. As if its cloak were the jingling of a necklace
From twisted chokers and rings when turned.

10. In its arms, when embraced, hot coals
On the sleeper, and in its fangs, sticks.

11. As if a cloak surged in it in waves
Green are its edges with bands.

12. Leave that and count a breakfast cooked
The likes of it the sleepless seek.

13. By a night of horrors, its stars
Like lanterns filled with oil and wicks.

14. I collected it like the blinking of an eye, raining,
When the oblivious camels and valleys leveled.

15. With a mare whose behind a snake seems to bite
When a singing camel driver follows her.

16. I set out with a bucket walking toward a she-camel
Beyond its saddlebags the brand and celestial pole.

17. To Al-Walid son of Al-‘Abbas I rushed
While below him were gifts of wares and food.

18. When I came to you from Najd and its people,
You gave off a scent from which the Arabs flew.

19. You gave me one hundred yellow coins
Like palm trees adorned atop by fruit bunches.

20. A young camel herder drives them, whose departure
Was like the crow whose food is pebbles and milk.

21. If a Sabaian well-bred and distinguished
With a high intellect lacking any confusion—

22. If she became fertile she would leave what was around her stall
Adorned, though sometimes infertile so she gathered wood—

23. I am Imru’ who admits his needs and seeks them
Just as a blade admits given to it the fodder—

24. And I do not nag the boon-companions asking them,
As the evening star nags with the bone of the drowned—

25. Nor do I deceive the regretful ones to trick them
Out of their money when the teat is relaxed for them—

26. While you and your sons, no likeness was found for you,
Three, all wearing the crown, prevailing—

27. Good people, when their souls are good,
Smooth of eyebrow and eye even if angry.

28. Compare me to all the people’s poets
And summon the narrators if they forget what they collected—

29. Verily, even if some tribes say their praises
Excellently, without loving or lying,

30. I surpass them with the running of a stalwart, unleashed horse
Whose bridle, when it runs, does not jerk—

31. O people! Fear God and be cautious
Of Al-Walid, and let not the earth deceive you!