1. If the maidens say, “Who is he?” I wish
I had a name while you lie under the sheets

2. They came near and closer so I could see them
I took my stick and my face turned white

3. So the jealous one doesn’t sleep at night
For love of my talk and the jealous whisperers

4. And I knew what revelation is for him
A messenger other than a hint from the eye perceiving

5. And I said to Amr when separatists passed by
With it you are the traces of fleeing gazelles

6. If the wild beasts dwell with me one day, for long
I have startled the hearts of the radiant beauties

7. She has clung to the slave Zayd and his scent
The carriers of her eyes specks of dust not sleeping

8. And before her your old woman pined
And your sister for the nearest the wailing of lamenters

9. Crying over Zayd and did not find his equal
Innocent of fever, intact of sideburns

10. And if she, O son of Maragha, were free
She would have watered you with her hands the blood of predators

11. But she is owned, her self-respect prohibiting her
For him sweat that smells of the filthiest armpit

12. If Umm Ghailan recited poetry to me or transmitted
About me she would surely return from me with a smasher