وَيَطيرُ أسوده وَيبرقُ تَحتَهُ

بَرقَ السَّحابَةِ شَدّ ما يُجْلِي

His blackness flies and flashes underneath

The lightning of the cloud intensely bright

ذو بُردَةٍ خَلَت عَلى جُؤشوشِهِ

سَوداءَ جافِيَةٍ مِنَ الغَزْلِ

Wearing a cloak that drapes his shoulders

Pitch black and coarse from spinning

وَشُقَيقَةٍ بَيضاءَ غَير طَويلَةٍ

عَنْ رُكبَتَيهِ قَليلَةُ العَضْلِ

And a little white ankle-ring

Scarce spanning his slender shins

حَرقُ الجَناحِ كَأَنَّهُ مُتَمايِلُ

مِن آل أَحبَش شاسِعِ النَّعْلِ

The burning of his wings as though he swoops

A scion of Abyssinia, broad of sole

أَصلاً قُبيلَ اللَّيلِ أَو غادَرْنَها

بكراً عذية في النَّدى الهَضْلِ

Setting out well before night’s end

Or leaving at dawn, in the dripping dew

وَالوَحشُ سارِيَة كَأَنَّ مُتونَها

قُطُنٌ تُباعُ شَديدَةُ الصَّقْلِ

The beasts like swaying hilltops as though their backs

Were cotton sold, well-burnished smooth

عُنْقاً يقلبها وَرَأساً غاوِياً

صَعْلاً وَقَد يَسمو عَلى الصَّعْلِ

Neck swiveling, head held high

Lofty, though he may stand upon a dune

وَيَقولُ ناعِتُها إِذا أَعرضتها

هَذي الوآةِ كَصَخرَةِ الوَعلِ

And his herder, when he shows him off, declares

“This here’s a boulder, firmly set!”