1. White and bright, daughters of a tender father,
Through them to time-honoured glory are the tribe's prides.

2. Daughters of a free man, as though the snarling beasts
Had loaded them with terror from the waste at night.

3. For them Sufyan chose the finest linen
When he met their merchant with treasures of old.

4. They pastured the branded camels where clouds parted
And the rain’s abundance soaked all the hills and wadis.

5. They took turns with the males, the freedmen and clients
Till their camp on the plain bloomed like a garden.

6. A sanctuary no horseman challenged or Shaykh
Whose hawk sought prey while he coursed with greyhounds.

7. And if they deny such maidens or spurn the peerless,
Their tall spears they will defend them from all reproach.

8. He roams the desert protecting them from heat
That sears at noon when their sheltering tree is parched.

9. By my life, Zurarah pastured them in sanctuary
While the dripping pollen stained their shade and courtyard.