1. Like a smooth-skinned doe in lush gardens
Whose buds and blossoms have parted from her

2. In the hollow of a humped, rounded hill, her kinsfolk
Gnaw the arbutus berries off her and pluck them clear

3. She thrashed her feet about until roused to fury
By a tawny lynx on a fateful morn

4. Ablaze, her yearning kindled
While the wild cat writhed and twisted in the heat

5. Perched atop a towering cliff, resolute
Dividing fortune as if he were its arbiter

6. Does he mean to give her water from his whip
Or a heart brimming with piercing mockery?

7. As her tangled hair fluttered on the hilltops
Eyes peered into the wilderness, keeping watch

8. And she entered the gate without granting favors
So a king other than the lion took her in

9. How many enviers look on me with hatred
As rancor smolders in their breasts?

10. I stoked their spite within their ribs
And they walk bent over like the dibble stick

11. They did me no harm, though I made them swallow it
Cutting short their rage with patience and calm

12. This sickness in their souls does not abate
Like the sweat of a terrified she-camel’s neck

13. The mighty king has made me promises
And warnings have come to me ahead of him

14. His eyes were lit with anger against me
As the leopard’s eyes flare against his prey

15. And he sees me yet cannot reach me
Not a shred of a thornbush whipped by the drunk

16. I am from Khindif among its ravines
Where the aroma of wormwood grows thick