1. I came down like a lonely partridge
To a tender branch, arms outstretched.

2. Among the living I was but an intimate,
Bound to them in ancestral ties unbreakable.

3. I neighbor with the humble or join the few
In lowly birth of neither mother nor father.

4. While around Mudar warrior sons abound,
You remain a settler's line with no warrior stock.

5. Fate's turn struck him one day by surprise,
And many a sharp fang and claw has missed its swipe.

6. Had he just roused to show his mettle, his steed
Would have leaped like hungry wolves in repeated charges.

7. And every rising fang above the worn-out tail
Is like a hornet hovering over the back of a scorpion.

8. And the youths of raids, their lances by the ink-horn man
Are like sticks of a blind man who has lost his way.

9. By their oath, white faces brightening their faces,
Experienced warriors, tested thoroughly in skill.

10. Keepers of sanctuaries, who pastured the protected land
With decisivecompatible and well-timed weapons.

11. Regard not our blood spilled as a lost drop
Even if lost in the overflowing bowl of the seeker.

12. When the right side trenches flower, take heart
For a painful day that will spill the terrible brew.

13. If you pity us today, we will repay you tomorrow
With a staff of the firm jujube, the noble, adaptable tree.