1. Look, my friend, at the summit of Tharmada in the morning glow,
While the pack-camels wander to and fro with their burdens.

2. The living faced the womb of mystery, or did they shy away?
Their hearts enthralled, whichever way their course was bent,

3. Towards Mount Kabata, where warriors thrill at the clash,
Eager in their thousands for the youthful fray. Already they have thrilled.

4. Visiting, alas, is hopeless, and all around them
Is the smouldering Hell-fire, and their cubs still suckle.

5. They have sworn a binding oath to us - no evil will they say
Nor disloyalty. So have they sworn.

6. How excellent to venture out between bloodshed and slaughter,
Between Ruwaytha’s pasture, between El-Gharef and Ed-Dumah!

7. Urge on through the stony ground the mules with double saddlecloth,
Where the wild goats butt each other, and sheep bleat loud.

8. As if, when the winds had died down, it was
A parchment where the lam and alif stand out plain.

9. Secretly or openly, tell news of the living ones.
With longing in her eye to you comes the she-camel, trained and tame.

10. Men have never asked for the gifts they wish
But I see that Umm ‘Amr surpasses all they crave.

11. She is like a wild cow, brightly marked,
Or a pearl whose sheen no oyster-shell can hide.

12. Her body wrapped in the smoothest silk
And on her shoulders from her teeth a rosary.

13. She gives to greetings the fresh draught of miswak from her mouth
As if she holds the water of the brimming bowl.

14. ‘Will not experience inhibit you?’ ask the censurers.
‘Do you not see how white hairs and wrinkles have crept in?’

15. Do you not condemn the encampment at Usnamah
Though for your eyes a neighbor's home would suffice?’

16. O, our encampment, long indeed has been our sojourn here
Till we are sated and men have turned away.

17. Once I loved the earth of Najd and those who dwell there,
While in its valley are wild figs, and the Juhaf.

18. When we departed intending for Syria,
Ju'adah cried: ‘That purpose is most vile!’

19. I made my friends endure hardships trusting them,
God reward them! They rode and were not tried.

20. They came to you from El-Sihbah, and behind them
Were Faihan, El-Hazn, Es-Samman and El-Laukaf.

21. They drive to you worn-out she-camels
Touched by misfortune, distress, and want.

22. In a two months' journey no short cuts can compass
The miles their yearning bridles will outspan.

23. Not one tent cord of Usnamah people will lack
A bucket coming and going, and fodder.

24. No going to and fro for people who refrain not
When the saddle is removed from their long necks.

25. We hailed Teima, where the Christian monk still
Clangs his bells over us - would that they might crack!

26. O Ibn el-'Aram! Though lofty their tree-clumps soaring,
None will climb them, no kindling blaze up their trunks.

27. I come a visitor in friendship and respect
Till the bestriding saddle-girth is made fast.

28. I hope for bounty. God has given you precedence.
My life for yours! Let me not live to mourn you.

29. When our needs descended, none treated us
With your bounty and gentleness and charm.

30. How often have I descended on you as a guest and been wrapped
In the folds of your ample cloak - great the difference!

31. To Hunaida they gave as wedding gift eight hundred
Camels in number, no base paucity, no lavish excess,

32. Like a lofty crag, as though when the Euphrates came roaring
Seas would drain dry, and its channel rocks still depress.

33. Not but her capacious throat and bosom could match them
When the full waters of the pool freely flowed forth.

34. In summer her stable holds a three-fold drove
As though they had plied the twin gulfs of the Tigris to give her enough.

35. I thank you, and I know the mettle of your men,
Men, though they render no thanks, of kindly grace.

36. O people's chief, yet other people envy you,
Not one like you, none to replace you have they.

37. Noble forebears of old are counted as yours,
Goodly forebears named, if names recur and lineages branch.

38. War and the clan of Abul-'Asi gave you glory handed down,
Some of glory but a part handed down and diminished.

39. O son of lofty sand-dunes, best of all men was your father,
His plumage would shield me, a wing of your wings arched over.

40. Behold, El-Hajjaj mustered them to enjoy his power,
Throngs, whenever he stirred, seemed to quake.

41. Never have people built for glory's sake
A mansion loftier than yours, storied heights tiered above.

42. Vast the facade, towering the verses inscribed there,
Like the full moon when barely halfway through its course.

43. God gave you, so thank Him for His favor,
Gave you a kingdom, and nothing loftier can be conceived.

44. This horde is content with whatever you decide.
Move on, and they march: speak, and they halt in their tracks.

45. Caliph he, so accept what lawful he declares,
His words all sweeping away crookedness, nothing warped.

46. Justly he decrees, healing hypocrisy,
So folks rejoiced at the truth they now perceive.

47. You are the blessed one; upright and smooth your course,
Else people's discord never could you reconcile.

48. You donned the mantle of sovereign power, no novelty,
Ere thirty years - good begun early thrives best.

49. Summon you, and the people of Syria will rally to aid,
A folk obedient to just governors, bound fast to each other.

50. No disloyalty lurks in their hearts, no sickness,
Whene'er you hurl some apostate, they too hurl.

51. Long ago the people tasted that they
Feel no panic when the war-drum rumbles deep.

52. God destroyed the clan of El-Muhallab, razed their traces,
Left them ashes, neither root nor branch remaining.

53. They were distraught when God put their faction to shame,
The clan of El-Muhallab, amidst disgrace distraught.

54. Naught did the Azd gain from the claims of their misguided one
Save by the napes of their necks to be dragged off.

55. The Azd had appointed El-Montuf their warlord,
So God's troops killed them, and they were blotted out.

56. Their skulls crash down under Dhi'l-'Akra's blows
As if they were cuttlefish, each skull severed off.