1. The dove cooed after we left, and the grouse,
And the secret was openly declared by them and attended.

2. You took the trouble not because you knew them,
Nor did joining them cost you much effort.

3. If God safely delivers the messengers at dawn,
And the rhymes flow guided and wander,

4. You will convey to the Bani Nabhan my poems
That overlook Salmah while they moan and croon,

5. And the one-eyed poet of Nabhan howls, while below him
Is a dark, obscure night.

6. He called out while alive as if dead, and if he dies,
After death this will be his resurrection.

7. I raised for him a flaming fire to give him light,
Its spark nearly flew up to the sky.

8. When his sides were set alight, our fire laughed,
The loud hissing of the writhing snakes.

9. The brother of misery ‒ his flesh separate from his bones ‒
Is disgraceful, while their brains bubble.

10. So I said to our two servants, “Turn it,”
For the kindler of the night fire has arrived snarling.

11. The host, whose house the guests enter,
And the generous knows the rights of the lodgers.

12. When they do not recognize the gloom, she quickly smiles for them,
The swift glad tiding of conception comes trotting.

13. We found the Bani Nabhan to be the tails of Tayy,
And people have tails, as you can see.

14. You can see the dowry condition of their she-goats,
And for their she-goats they have dowries.

15. When the worthless tails of the Bani Thalabah
Arrive with the ponies of Salmah, fine and corrupt,

16. As for the one-eyed poet of Nabhan, his day
Is blind, while his night has sight.