1. Is it from mentioning Salma that we come to you wavering,
So you fall short in your step and look askance?

2. How many perils and wildernesses are below it,
And how much barren land is below it, frequented by thieves!

3. One day it appeared to us at Unayzah’s side,
And now to move camp from it was imperative.

4. With black camels wound with plaited halters
And young she-camels that you incite and prod.

5. Their resting places are like sdus-plants and their color
Is like torrential rain-water, sweet and overflowing.

6. Will an impenetrable shawl console you for anxiety
That penetrates the bones of the deaf adders?

7. The purpose in it is evident; it is no young camel
Nor one with a frayed bridle-rein and bit.

8. Tiresome, fidgety, not halting her movement
When they say: “Move on in the dark, O travelers!”

9. As if I, my camel-litter, my kinsfolk and my guide,
When the small camels stir, were all one group

10. On a creaking litter for him and his bride,
White, marked on the side, climbing the undulating ground.

11. When he moves lethargically to couple with her,
She avoids him and holds back in alarm.

12. Is that so or a lustful stallion pursuing young she-camels
Who have conceived and whose pregnancies are evident?

13. Need has drawn his belly tight so his ribs are visible
And his flank clings to his spine so that he is pinched.

14. On his forehead are bumps from blows, bringing disgrace,
And his scruff is calloused from contention and conflict.

15. As if his vertebrae and the hair of his back
Were lovers creeping stealthily between them.

16. They graze on the plentiful desert-grass ratb and la’u’
Swollen with food, he staggers as he walks.

17. Raising dust like a sdus-plant when the winds lift it
And whirl it about till it can rise no more.

18. She drove them on until, no longer able to continue,
There was a mountain pass above them and a gorge.

19. They struggled there; were it not for rock-climbers
Their young would be prey for them in the gorge.

20. When he spied them from nearby he moaned at them
With wrists as slender as those of a nursing baby.

21. So he gave them to drink late at night a beverage
Green, whose water was brackish and scarce.

22. They drank it in gasps while they shook with fear
And their kidneys quivered at it, as did their chests.

23. Then he brought them out ascending the mound at night,
More wrinkled than the sole of an unborn baby’s foot.

24. Some halted behind them while others faced their cunning
And warded it off, staying close to their side.

25. And he brought them out while the star of good fortune shone,
More twisted than an Andarawi jug’s handle.