1. The bird met him and told him
That the son of Layla had hung his love-token on high

2. And that a stream of safe blood
Had been spilled by the stab in the valley of Al-‘Aqeeq

3. O you who call to mourn the knight—
The hyenas of that howler have become yelping from him

4. You know who you call to his people—
Your arms have flown with a flexible bow

5. Away with the spears of Tameem, they have
Threatened an ancient enemy’s building

6. They struck at a noble origin in the earth
And dug into the roots of one with mighty veins

7. They plotted against him from where he could not beware
A flood of stabs filling the markets

8. As if the one with the rising sun in the morning
Became loss for it and the band withdrew from him

9. His soul said to him of its shame:
“Why do you not take this route?”

10. He who hopes for an unforeseen chance from him
Will not turn back from his path—

11. Even if the sword stood in his way at the narrow passage
The fading one does not leave one whose taste

12. Is of blood in the morning or unripe dates
It is as if its upper part is a tongue, so

13. Time does not make it disappear with a fleeting moisture
How many nights did he spend sleepless,

14. Stirred by a night-traversing caravan,
In a spacious howdah, stretched out,

15. As if it were the head of a shaven man
He challenges the night with his saddlebags

16. And favors the people with the taste of truffles
And after the struggle of the pack-saddles

17. He competes with the caravan with a cheerful face
Loyal as he seemed with a blue glance

18. And tender gazes, refined
Dashing his eyes on some object of doubt

19. Before the warbling of the birds at dawn
Searing flesh on burning coals

20. And choosing bone with the pebbles of musk willow
Or the snake of the meadow turned away its head

21. As the rising sun shone on a smooth hill
It coils its head with its tail

22. Wrapped like the daughter of palm branches entwined
It twisted around with its slanting body

23. Between the snaky twists of the palm frond
Uniting gentleness and zeal together

24. Retiring with forbearance and passionate determination
He turns the saliva of youth in his mouth

25. Like the mature man tasting carefully
It seems whatever his jaws put forth

26. Did not stain the pure with the mud of dense darkness
Prepared, it scattered apart from a leap—

27. Your rope, O Arab, was slack
Good, like the rain of his mouth it waters

28. The mouths of calamities and the preaching of ascetics
It embraces him in fear for his coat of mail

29. A mother who has injury or disobedience from him
He is gone but left behind him

30. A servant of wealth whose rights are recognized
He passed away, commanding them to accept

31. The claim of enmity among them and the judgment of a friend
It would have been passion for the soul if I were

32. In the prime of youth and you were the departing one
I would not be the shunner of fate’s roads—

33. The temper would be safe and you the companion
I am not the one who meets the striking

34. Of cavalry stirred with passion for battle
It extended to the water but when it asked

35. About drinking it extended to the pasture
And the son of Layla, crossing his spear—

36. It runs with beautiful, smooth-stepping horses
It refuses, when injustice becomes a morsel,

37. A delicious chain in the throats
He in whom a surprise is hoped goes easily—

38. He gurgled the bloody stream with a deep pool
It speaks to the soul of what escaped it

39. As the rolling cloud of destruction mounted
The living replaced its heels

40. With more foolish than the wailing of the little owl
The foxes wagged their tails

41. When the clucking of that artful one was silenced
The silent one has spoken since him

42. And the camel grunted after being milked
An imagination, with no rain behind it,

43. Flashes from which the lightnings of the rain appear
The living one does not laugh at his like,

44. Nor the faces of the living since the departure of joy
I do not neglect your grave out of grief—

45. A patchwork cloak with rain the work of the maker of lightning
How creation excelled in what it reaped!

46. But it burdened other than the able one.