1. The dwellings have guides though their banners are changed,
Their years have passed as their markings are effaced.

2. Who will last at Muwaylih adorned by carnelians,
When their landmarks are covered and gathering-places erased?

3. There the wild cows with calves remained a while,
And successive downpours whose runnels interlaced.

4. All gathered there and then set out on their travels,
Leaving only the fiber shelters of Arfaj folk displaced.

5. There the shadows remain of its she-goats and lambs,
While the plaster that wrapped its pillars lies frayed.

6. Cephalophorus on its high fort gazes down
At the perforated Yemen huts where the twins were born and raised.

7. You roused Muwaylih one long, shadowed dawn,
When the Pleiades smiled and the veil was displaced.

8. They jostled in confusion till when they jostled,
Their cushions slid sideways and their necks were abrased.

9. They swayed their staves, like the swaying of plants
When the winds make their tresses hang down unbraced.

10. Had Muwaylih faced the full moon- it would vie
With the full moon itself- no perfection erased!

11. Lightfoot, so delicate, spaced are her steps.
Slender, not a bone shows, like metal encased.

12. Bright-white, soft, rosy, diaphanous,
Fine-textured, enchanting minds through veils delicately laced.

13. Far apart her eyes, like a mountain-top dwelling
With a perforated Yemen robe that is loosely encased.

14. She outstripped Ubayran, her camel surging ahead,
Her howdah slides sideways, the riding-camel steadfastly paced.

15. Curved like the silent ostrich, shawl gathered in,
Bending as she brings down the steeds on the valley's broad space.

16. I was as if I rode a weaned she-camel, unbroken,
That the noble sir kept for himself from the herd he'd replaced.

17. She flowed, her brightness merging with her shadow,
Wresting with her hands, striking with her brace.

18. Was she a terrified creature, bolting away?
For she suddenly shed her mantle as her restraint gave way.

19. The turtledove spiralled around her in passion,
Under the umbels where the sands shift and cascade.

20. She avoided the slaughtering swords and feared
The striking hooves as the warriors came charging apace.

21. At dawn, Muwaylih's horsemen departed veiled,
Zawra's sides scored where the darts found their place.

22. Hearts yearn for Muwaylih but still her blamers
Will ever continue to censure her and debase.

23. Do you not know that I am Muwaylih's sultan,
Scion of great 'Amir's line, glory and fame's fount unerased?

24. Her roaring, her prowling, her snarling, her spying,
Her smiting, her spiting, her slaying, her waste.

25. The clutter her carrion-eaters made when they clustered!
Turn back her curved neck and the gulls she'll displace.

26. When kings vie in glory, I lead the advance,
I marshal their columns in me all excellences encased.

27. I'm the falcon, the hawk of all kings and their vengeance,
Their discipline, fury, their darkening cloud mass that's amassed.

28. I killed kings in valor and generosity,
So the bravest salute me, extolling my graces.

29. My might brings the foe to his knees, with my bounty
The clouds overflow, raining gifts without haste.

30. With my pleasure, mankind is abased, while my pride
Together with their lives and their turtle-doves chaste.

31. My virtues are countless as stars, my ambition
Is loftier than the pleiades' cluster encased.

32. I'm the quintessence of all Murr's line,
Foremost in the thick where the kings' necks abrade.

33. I'm the son of Nubuhan's son Nabhan, who held
The kings' reins while their rule his dominion embraced.

34. I'm the brother of Hilm, when the confused kings
Rave wildly, their wits by illusions replaced.

35. And if generous deeds are recalled, I'm the foremost -
After my father - vying in glories retraced.

36. I'm the one who controlled all the kings combined,
Their elders and youths bowing down when I faced.

37. From blessed ancestral line of prophets I'm sprung,
A servant of kings, yet most splendidly graced.

38. For we are the noblest kings, the height of glory,
None rivals our name when perfection is traced.