1. O Festival! You awaken no longing in me, no shedding of tears,
No specter passes over events that make me shudder,

2. It moves through the valleys and mountains proudly,
My soul is your ransom from an upright walker on legs.

3. The phantom of the free woman's daughter when we used to visit her,
Then, after we parted, you became infatuated with her.

4. By God, no woman believes after she has sworn
By God, from a pact and covenant.

5. Our love was mingled while she maintained it,
The first was sweet but faded, the second remains.

6. So the first sweetness passed, her affection for me,
And that sweetness from her was delusion without right.

7. She makes promises to you that beguile you
Like drops falling on bright porcelain.

8. When she is alone she shows you her claws
And seizes the weak bond violently.

9. I escaped from her like my escape from Bajila
The night I threw myself among the sleeping tribe.

10. The night they cried out and drove me away in haste
With the two she-camels, at Ma’diyy ibn Barrayy’s abode.

11. As if they were stirring up quick camels,
Or a Khashuf's mother with a Shath and Tubbaq.

12. None swifter than I, without excuse,
With wings alongside the fleeing sandgrouse,

13. Until I escaped when they did not take my spoils
With a protector's grip, pulling away forcefully.

14. I do not say, when she shows her claws,
“Woe to my soul from longing and compassion!”

15. Rather, my strength, if I have any strength,
Is in one with insight who earns praise as a forerunner,

16. A forerunner in the realms of glory among his tribe,
Restoring reason gently among comrades,

17. Bare forearms, spreading out his mantle,
A reddish-brown steed with weakly flowing water,

18. Bearer of banners, famed among assemblies,
Judge of firm speech, answerer to horizons,

19. He is my care and my undertaking when I call
for help against one who chops at the head spitefully,

20. Like the howdah, its saddle worn by traveling,
“Two braids and dimness and looseness,” I said to him,

21. And sparseness like spear points protruding,
A laughing one in the months of summer's heat,

22. I gained access to its she-camels, my friends,
and they were not slow until I came to her after sunrise.

23. There is nothing wrong with it but her ostrich,
Some of them are prey and some remain.

24. With contemptible nature that the fingers guard against,
I tightened its saddlecloth after saddling.

25. O you who blame harshly and spitefully with a twisted character,
Scorching my skin, what a burning!

26. He says, "You have destroyed wealth which, had you been content with,
Would have been enough in true garments and silk."

27. My criticizer, some blame is persecution.
What possessions did I keep to remain?

28. I assert that if you do not stop blaming me,
The living will ask after me among people everywhere,

29. The people will ask after me, people of knowledge,
And they will not inform them about an absent one.

30. Make your assets righteous from the wealth you gather
Until you meet the one whom every person meets.

31. Old age will beat upon me with regret
When you remember some of my character.