1. It seems as if one of the faithful friends told Nu'man
A tale, no falsehood in it, of a fortress alive

2. With the clan of Asad, saying "Protect us!"
Their wits fled them, and the fair speaker seduced them,

3. Driving the steeds from Golan, unshod,
Among startled does roused from sleep unbroken,

4. Until they cried out for help from the salt-lick people
In a camp whose sleep was broken and unrested.

5. They were splashed with the overflow of the abundant troughs
As the water-carriers hauled the undrunk draught.

6. The hollow bellies of the sand-grouse poured down
Like mourners' streaming tatters and trailing robes.

7. Dishevelled warriors with grizzled war-beards
And greying temples smelled of warriors and age.

8. No drowsing in that fortress when
Voices of a lively tribe woke the guarded to alarm,

9. While the doubting herds crowded by the crosses
In the plain, apprehensive and assembled.

10. When by God's grace their evil was stemmed,
The scout sped back to bear the news to the tribes.

11. Never did they encounter, as did the clan of Asad,
What brought them to disaster and confusion.

12. None remained save a harried fugitive, unescaping,
Or a captive, bound by ropes of palm-fibre, stripped,

13. Or a noble steed, mired like grouse in the sand,
Hobbled on the hillsides among the stone slopes,

14. Calling vainly for succour, while the iron bit
Bit like a file in an unyielding muzzle.

15. Sensing their homes the prey of the invaders,
They invoked the names of Jesus, Domiyya, and Job.