1. The plain of Umm al-Walid sloped gently, so we descended,
A wilderness where al-Rukayy, the perforated well, bubbles up.

2. An open expanse down to the cisterns, wholesome, though sometimes
Herdsmen and their cattle are seen there, and sheepfolds.

3. Ruins of Diymah loom in the distance
Where the winds howl and sport.

4. For your nobility, while the bond of love endures
And while you take pride in your nobility and are transfixed,

5. When you see nothing among people to surpass it
Though there is beauty in them, if you but glanced askance,

6. She is the free woman, the fine, slender steed and her clan,
When the true horseman, cultured and refined, is mentioned.

7. Devourer of herbage, warder-off of rain, excellent
Is he who dons the russet cloak with the shoulder-mantle.

8. I saw, together with my friends, irresolute in Ayla,
When the star of the Pleiades shone out, precisely aimed.

9. O Azra, a fire that does not die out, as though
When we glimpse it from afar, it were a planet.

10. My friends expressed wonder at it when first lit,
And that it should be rekindled late at night was stranger still.

11. When it sank low late in the night,
It would be revived for us with bellows, and pierced through.

12. We halted, and it blazed up, and there appeared to us
In the hollows of its valley, carpets which took form and flowed.

13. And below, where it was lit, were encampments
And resting-places for the rider and copses.

14. The breath of its wind brought us the grouse in the evening
And meat undercooked in the plain of Rusaifah, seasoned.

15. A south wind which touches gently the faces of the riders,
Delicious, and the scent of it from the ground is sweet.

16. Oh, how prolonged my yearning when between us is
An obscuring mirage, and the shoulder-belt of a leather waterskin.

17. As though my pilgrimage failed to coincide with Azra's pilgrimage,
And my band did not encounter a band at al-Muhassab encamped.

18. I swore by the female dancers on the Minâ plain
Whose eyes feed hounds unleashed and enrapture them.

19. And by the mares on the evening they swam to cross the canal,
Streaming along the rope with the late afternoon.

20. Azra, they are the soul's concern — if only you could see
Some way to reach them, or overcome them and lead them captive!

21. I am consumed for Umm al-Walid and my love of her
Is an inner fire beneath the coat of mail burning hot.

22. If only Umm al-Walid would speak her tale
To bring about consent, she would come courting favor in the morning.

23. We would swoop down to her from the environs of Dhû'l-Jass and Ayla
Even if the watchman there drove us away with stones.

24. She plays fast and loose with lovers — the youth doesn't know
And despairs of Umm al-Walid after trying his luck.

25. Oh would that we, O Azra, possessed the wealth
To pasture our she-camel in the wilderness and live alone!

26. We would both mount her, a noble camel, so if any saw us,
He would say, gazing on your beauty, "A bereft man with a hired camel!"

27. When we arrived at a watering-place, its people would shout at us,
And we would not stop being pelted and beaten.

28. We would belong to the wealthy man, and he would abandon us,
Neither tending us himself, nor we seeking him out.

29. The herdsmen would chase us away from every pasturage
And prevent us from finding anything there to drink.

30. I wish, O House of God, that you were an unwedded girl,
Buxom, and I were Mus'ab, and then we would elope!