1. How the youths marvel at Umm Malik’s son
Saying, “You’ve become disheveled and dust-covered,

2. Rarely visiting after we saw you
Radiant, with smooth cheeks!”

3. I said to her, “Two days - a day I spend
Shaking a green bough of acacia,

4. And a day I shake a sword amid the necks of foes,
To which it is no stranger.

5. It bends over it as it draws out his soul -
You were resolute in the dark turmoil.

6. And I called in the tracks of Hawm as if they were
The virgins of 'Uqail or the maidens of Humayr.

7. I frighten off the sniffers like a repelling bird
And regret something when it turns away.

8. My legs forbid them while I make them
Retreat in humiliation, drab and sallow.

9. If only the hands of Nawfal's companions reached them
With a blow from amidst prominent knolls!

10. And when the Laythi insisted we ravage them,
I was patient, though my honor was greater.

11. So I said to him - praise is due - I will go
Until I find none remaining.

12. And when I saw ignorance grow more stubborn
Saying, 'May you never lack war,'

13. I approached him until his shirt seemed
To be soaked in the dripping of adder's venom.

14. Who will tell Layth ibn Bakr that we
Left their brother on the day of Qarn covered in dust?”