1. O home, the she-camels yearned not for you,
But your quarters were alluring and enticing,

2. They came to you frolicking in prosperity and blessings,
Goading and whips being commonplace,

3. And they pined for the long journey as though
Every region was rugged and stony ground.

4. A home that separation took possession of and scattered
Among its dwellers from the bonds of clouds set loose.

5. It shed tears with its weeping until the courser
Seemed to have in it the moaning of ostriches.

6. A Yemeni she-camel circled its corners
As clamor and neighing rose high above it.

7. Every morn and evening a band for tears
Marched over it to lament and weep.

8. The raven grew angry at its ruins between them
So it had the separation to shriek about.

9. Those languid gazes scattered and
Those tender throats were split.

10. Now dignity beyond youth has come over me
So I cast down my eyes and the does leap.

11. Had I not given my glory its due,
I would have denied the taste of honor when I taste it.

12. I aspired to the heights but they evaded me and
My beloved never ceased to be aloof from a lover.

13. I was patient until I attained them and said not
In annoyance, “The cure for one far off is to break away.”

14. I was not the first to bow down with his shirt
Scented with dust and his pocket torn.

15. The hopes of men multiplied and never ceased
To expand while time grew narrower.

16. For each body there is a niche that claims it
As though it were created of its clay.

17. And a mirage that gives birth to delusion―I ripped it open
While the land gleamed with the flash of a mirage.

18. With the silent ululation of she-camels, as though
They and the family were running in the desert wasteland.

19. Your determination outstripped its wild-roaming footsteps,
So it was saved, while the necks of the steeds vied in speed.

20. It dragged me from Tihama heading purposefully
While the star in the sea of darkness was drowning.

21. Letting loose a lightning whose thread was severed,
So that the horizons had glimmers of its dawn.

22. Its horizon shook the galaxy as though it were
A bough with the brilliance of the stars thickening.

23. Darkness obscured dawn from it as though
There were no lights on the lip of darkness.

24. And the night with loosed waistband from dawn
Was disgraced, and the knot of morning tied fast.

25. It was only a slumber until it tossed
With eyes bleary from the intoxication of drowsiness.

26. Those turbans clung together after
Its edges had been loosened, pendulous and fluttering.

27. Their riders were not well-seated but on
The skin of darkness were holes of light piercing through.

28. O she-camel, recalcitrant, who makes the pace slow for you
So that others than you are more apt with the nose-rein?

29. Return to the enclosure of a Ma’addi young man, all of it
With plaited palm-leaf rope whose heart is profound.

30. When my saddle-girths grow slack I tighten them
In the courtyard of a house whose soil is dragon’s blood.

31. In a township inviolable to its enemies
And impregnable to misfortunes, a stronghold natural.

32. The guests throng in its dwellings
As fellow tribes that yearn for settlements and pine.

33. When he saw them he did not say pretentiously,
“O children of the age, for each expanse is confining.”

34. Wondrous is your dwelling place, how its land thrives,
While its shoulder is dyed with the blood of miscreants.

35. The horses know that the stuffing of their saddles
Is unlawful for them so the branding-iron shuns them.

36. He continues to spare them for his enemies
While the sun drags on and the desert grows confining.

37. The neigh of each gallant steed is like
A tune, though the lance’s thrust is not fragrant.

38. A gaze accustomed to being narrowed so his face
Becomes slender at the thinning out of fat.

39. Of ruddy complexion you would think it
Was from the long-established wagers on racing.

40. Today the twilight converses with the oryx
While tonight the trembling stars wander.

41. Their souls were snatched away by the lips of Indian swords
So they surged ahead while the blades of disasters quivered.

42. Every day they mourn a fallen warrior
For the beasts there and the vultures circling.

43. The flexing of the biceps from the blood of young men
Among whom the morning light shone while they were unmindful.

44. It weeps for them without pity,
With pouring rains and lightning striking.

45. And his views circulated until they seemed
To rise while the clouds obscured them.

46. He turns back while the excellent steed goes slowly
And he leads ahead while the blade of the sword drags.

47. Swerves from one whose feet determination bound
So that for him in the heights there was a gentle breeze and intimacy.

48. His two palms sufficed to train the arrows, so that for them
In throbbing there was no deviation from precise striking.

49. Were it not for the arrow’s obedience to the bow,
The resolute blade would not have bade farewell aloft.

50. He brings the doves near with his palm in a leisurely way
For his decree, the starling arrow-heads graceful.

51. From him fine qualities were scattered on the days
That brought out the face of time radiant and unfettered.

52. And he held markets for striking, so for souls
Captured there, the tender were precious.

53. My soul be your ransom, what day did you not stand
For you among the ships bringing fighters?

54. A moon, death fears the gleam of his forehead,
While today the heelbones of the mighty are breaking.

55. The sword is not feared before the clashing with it
Until its blade touches the eye with its flash.

56. He loved benevolence, and for every charm leading to success
In it, with the breath of asking, he blew upon.

57. I purified my heart after I knew
That for the pace of his glorious praises noble souls were a path.

58. How many shoulders of those who bore his fame
His generosity weighed down, though able to fulfill their duty.

59. You bowed the branch of glory then plucked it
So it recoiled while it was above your hands outstretched.

60. A branch that pointed to the sky until
It seemed the stars were its roots.

61. And a grudging man whose oath bore witness against him
Where generosity prevented it and confined it.

62. He weeps when the clouds weep as though
He were always a sympathetic horizon for the clouds.

63. If an objection presented itself he turned from it
Not to look upon caprices, observing how they flow.

64. If the days had revealed his aspect
Injustices and rights would have clung to him.

65. If he marched, he marched into battle secretly
Until his weapon seemed stolen.

66. A house where stinginess resided and leveled
The deprived and the prosperous in its courtyard.

67. He hopes to attain your bounty while certain
That the excellent steed is rare.

68. In pure white lineage your root, it
Is a root generations of many lands have handed down.

69. When you smile, every face stands out beaming
And when you frown, every cheek appears radiant.

70. May God guard you, the steed act as protection
And victory arm you while the sword-blade is sharp.

71. You continue to avoid from your swords in hostilities
A throat that deteriorates with the shouts of “Bravo!”

72. When you declared your will aloud making heard
Auspiciousness and success inclined toward you.

73. You ennobled my praise so its loftiness
Arose through you, surpassing and transcendent.

74. The steeds of thoughts testified that it
Is the best of neighing while other than it is whinnying.