إِلى ظُعنٍ يَتبَعنَ في قَتَرِ الضُحى

بِعُدوَةِ وَدّانَ المَطِيَّ الرَواسِما

To ravines they followed in the darkness of dusk,

With a racing she-camel, her reins slack,

تَخَلَّلنَ أَجزاعَ الضَئيدِ غُدَيَّةً

وَرُعنَ اِمرِءاً بِالحاجِبِيَّةِ هائِما

They threaded through the trunks of withered trees at dawn,

And startled a man in al-Hajibiyya distraught.

وَمَرَّت تَحُثُّ السائِقاتِ جِمالَها

بِها مُجتَوى ذي مَعيَطٍ فَالمَخارِما

Past them the she-camels marched, their driver urging them on,

There a refuge with weakened enclosures and decaying roofs.

فَلَمّا اِنقَضَت أَيّامُ نَهبَلَ كُلُّها

وَواجَهنَ دَيموماً مِنَ الخَبتِ قاتِما

When the days of plunder had passed, wholly gone,

They faced a perpetual gloom of destitution, bleak.

تَيامَنَّ عَن ذي المُرِّ في مُسبَطِرَّةِ

يَدُلُّ بِها الحادي المُدِلُّ المُراوِما

They refused the man of ill omen in al-Musabtirah,

Where the guide points, slowly leading on his mount.