1. Deserted abodes of Umm Sulayma
Where the lonely and afflicted tread

2. I stood there as my friends called out
Does passion conquer you or are you awake?

3. How many noble youths, sons of war
On lean steeds swift as lightning

4. I spent the morning with the houses of the Banu Ziyad
And the horses' tackle dragging on the spears

5. Dyed with blood by virtuous ladies
Their racers fast like the twinkling stars

6. A description - their encampments do not match
Ill omens foretell them perishing winds

7. I witnessed their herd led by a tender gazelle
Like an upright sand grouse in rut

8. The horsemen said when they saw him
We see a towering champion on the spears

9. When they rose against him to subdue him
He pranced above firm pillars

10. If you feared anything from his whiskers
He took off swiftly like a swooping eagle

11. When the galloping eased his flanks
He thundered like rumbling clouds

12. We did not kill their wickedest but
We killed the righteous men of arms

13. We killed their hospitality and dawn raiders
And owners of mares in heat

14. We made childless the doting mother
And left the spinster for marriage