1. I was disturbed, though not by a troubling hour,
When they encamped by Abu Hayy between Jujujb.

2. Of old their abode which now lies in ruins
Played with by the winds through every playground.

3. How often did their lookout see me, and I him,
My uncle, generous and my father there.

4. Horsemen of highborn Nafilis, chiefs,
And of Ka'b, glorious stock, never cut off.

5. A raid on Humaid while they slept we made
And never a tent of theirs below a planet's course we missed.

6. We harried them, every brown hill,
Stout though small, charging them, every dun hill.

7. The flight of the defeated in lowland when they scattered
Their reins loosed racing down every smooth plain.

8. The whinnying of their fauns along the zebras' flanks
Is like the jangling bells of Al-Walid's pierced camel.

9. When their swords mixed with hot blood draw
We stained them red as a running waterspout.

10. Leave that - but I wish, rider that I am,
When he speaks true his word is undeceived,

11. He has a she-camel of mine, saddle and pack,
Her flanks close to the saddle-pads.

12. When a journey moves her she wings as fast
As the sandgrouse, shunning every bird of prey.

13. Winged like the rose-hued sandgrouse; their waters
Drawn near from the forbidden draughts.

14. They sped, over the dune-tops and below,
Past the spring whose taste no other water vies;

15. They lingered, staring, their eyes like
A drinking-place glimpsed through a woven screen.

16. Sated awhile, hastily they raced back
Between the trellis for the henhouse roof.

17. They pass the night at Mawmah and dawn
Among the hoods of the cheating gallant.

18. Close-pressed wings and croaking vocals
Clasping her gullet in her beloved's gown.

19. When her wingbeats paused she slapped
Her cheeks one after the other.

20. When they sensed her clangor and cowered,
Fleeing her insistence on return:

21. She draped herself down the knolls like
Globes on a Nubian boy's striped cloak.

22. When night's shadows lifted from her and she gave them
A cooling draft from the sealed waterskin,

23. She left at dawn like a reed-mace tail beyond reach,
Her shelter become a booming, unallied lair.

24. My only wish is my rider not be sent astray
And every creeping doubtful thing be kept from him,

25. And that the porter with his key for her place of rest
Unbar the door of the daubed trellis for her.

26. When my she-camel's tethered at Ibn Marwan's door
No coaches will be her canopy.

27. She's honored near me there, her case resolved
Once and for all, no second judgment sought.

28. For after God, you are her lord,
Her contentment safe from all fear and greed.

29. Your rule is just; and were it not
That any hint of threat from you fills me with dread,

30. Then never would the unjust aggressor seek
Darkness against me, nor would I seek conflict.

31. Rather, I charge the sons of calumny and pursue
For her the rights of truth from every demand.

32. Traveling till the dawn is seen and the day
Continuous, before the sun travels on.

33. When she saw the Amir's house she pulled
And the caller's blessed, melodious invitation.

34. And the opponents' shouts echoing back
From the houses with high decorated doors,

35. A constant murmur sounds above, as if
It were the hum of bees busy at work.