طَرَقَتْكَ زَيْنَبُ بَعْدَمَا طَالَ الْكَرَى

دُونَ الْمَدِينَةِ غَيْرَ ذِي أَصْحَابِ

Zainab sought you when longing was prolonged

Outside the town unattended but by

إِلاَّ عِلاَفِيّا وَسَيْفاً مُلْطَفاً

وضِبِرَّةً وَجْنَاءَ ذَاتَ هِبَابِ

A sword, well sharpened, a coat of mail, and a mare

Swift, of erect ears, mingled with musk is her scent

طَرَقَتْ وَقَدْ شَحَطَ الفُؤادُ عَنِ الصِّبَا

وَأَتَى المَشِيبُ فَحَالَ دُونَ شَبَابِي

Zainab sought you when my heart had drifted from passion

And grey hairs advanced barring my youth

طَرَقَتْ بِرَيَّا رَوْضَة وَسمِيَّة

غَرِدٍ بِذَابِلِهَا غِنَاءُ ذَبابِ

Zainab sought you, she halted her well-bred mare

At a garden, where grasshoppers still sang

بِقَرَارَةٍ مُتَرَاكِبٍ خَطْمِيُّهَا

وَالمِسْكُ خَالَطَهَا ذَكِيُّ مَلاَبِ

Loftily pacing, haughty of mien, mixed with scent

As if what covers her flanks is a fox’s tail

خَوْدٌ مُنَعَّمَةٌ كَأنَّ خِلاَفَها

وَهْناً إذَا فُرِرَتْ إلَى الجِلْبَابِ

Graceful, plump, as if her coat behind her

Sways gently when she moves towards her cover

دِعْصَا نَقاَ رَفَدَ العَجَاجُ تُرَابَهُ

حُرٍّ صَبِيحَةَ دِيمَةٍ وذِهَابِ

She raised her staff, the restless one, from the soil

Of a bare wilderness on a hazy morning

قَفْرٍ أَحَاطَ بِهِ غَوَارِبُ رَمْلَةٍ

تَثْنِي النِّعَاجَ فُرُوعُهُنَّ صِعَابِ

A waste enclosed by sand-dunes' bushes

Bending their branches, pathless, waterless

وَلَقَدْ أَرَانَا لاَ يَشِيعُ حَدِيثُنَا

في الأقْربِينَ وَلاَ إلَى الأَجْنَابِ

Our talk interests none amongst next of kin

Nor unrelated men. And we live self-reliant

ولقد نعيش وماشيانا بيننا

صلفان وهي غريزة الاتراب

Enduring bleak luck – the nomad’s wont

Guarding the eyes of our enemy in a streak

إِذْ نَحْنُ مُحْتَفِظَانِ عَيْنَ عَدُوِّنَا

في رَيِّقٍ مِنْ غِرَّةٍ وَشَبَابِ

Of passion and youth. She appears to our fervor

And her person is hidden like sunrise after fog

تَبْدُو لِغِرَّتنَا وَيَخْفَى شَخْصُهَا

كَطُلُوعِ قَرْنِ الشَّمْسِ بَعْدَ ضَبَابِ

Appears when absent is the sentinel

And the eye of the lover sees through no veil

تَبْدُو إذَا غَفَلَ الرَّقِيبُ وَزَايَلَتْ

عَيْنُ الْمُحِبِّ دُونَ كُلِّ حِجَابِ

She let slip some lying, doubtful words

Hers, and some words true and right

لَفَظَتْ كُبَيْشَةُ قَوْلَ شَكٍّ كَاذِبٍ

مِنْهَا وَبعْضُ القَوْلِ غَيْرُ صَوَابِ

My tribe, why do you not ask in their honor

When your folk are the object of taunts?

قَوْمِي فَهَلاَّ تَسْأَلِينَ بِعِزِّهِمْ

إذْ كَانَ قَوْمُكِ مَوْضِعَ الأَذْنَابِ

Mudar whose precincts must not be dishonored

And who take all spoils that are to be taken

مُضَرُ الَّتي لاَ يُسْتَبَاحُ حَرِيمُهَا

وَالآخِذُونَ نَوَافِلَ الأَنْهَابِ

Threatening, so none may threaten their number

Or loose the ties of pacts they concluded

وَالحَائِطُونَ فَلاَ يُرَامُ ذِمَارُهُمْ

وَالحَافِظُونَ مَعَاقِدَ الأَحْسَابِ

What stretches between Homs and Hazramawt we gird

With our swords, from valley and hill

مَا بَيْنَ حِمْصَ وَحضْرَمَوْتَ نَحُوطُهُ

بِسُيُوفِنَا مِنْ مَنْهَلٍ وَتُرَابِ

In all this, Kubeisha, our abodes

Are eminent, lofty-tented, glorious

في كُلِّ ذلِكَ يا كُبَيْشَ بُيُوتُنَا

حِلَقُ الحُلُولِ ثَوَابِتَ الأَطْنَابِ

Mud huts built by warriors

On the plain, about wells and tents

آطامُ طِينٍ شَيَّدَتْهَا فَارِسٌ

عِنْدَ السُّيُوحِ رَوَافِدٍ وقِبَابِ

Whenever enemies appear we shoot them with arrows

And they know the truth who are wise

نَرْمي النَّوابِحَ كُلَّمَا ظَهَرَتْ لَنَا

وَالحَقُّ يَعْرِفُهُ ذَوُو الأَلْبَابِ

With troops of foot, their gear as though

Thorn-bushes in early morn bristling and dense

بِكتَائِبٍ رُدُحٍ تَخَالُ زُهَاءَهَا

كَالشِّعْبِ أَصْبَحَ حَاجِراً بِضَنَابِ

The Za’ibiyya, their tips are broken spear-shafts

And steeds folded close, battened to loins

وَالزَّاعِبِيَّةِ رُذَّماً أَطْرَافُهَا

وَالخَيْل قَدْ طُوِيَتْ إلَى الأَصْلاَبِ

Armored in steel plate, their coats suffice them

Vicious creatures pelted with rocks

مُتَسَرْبِلاَتٍ في الحَدِيدِ تَكُفُّهَا

شَقِّيَّةٌ يُقْرَعْنَ بِالأَنْيَابِ

Splashed with boiling pitch, as though

Their saddle-skins were daubed with fox-tails

مُتَفَضِّخَاتٍ بِالحَمِيمِ كَأّنَّما

نُضِحَتْ لُبُودُ سُرُوجِهَا بِذِنَابِ

Chestnut and grey-coated and sorrel

Copper-colored, their bellies white

حُوٍّ وَشُقْرٍ قرَّحٍ مَلْبُونَةٍ

جُلُحٍ مُبَرِّزَةِ النِّجَارِ عِرَابِ

Scrawny with ribs that jut through their hides

Lean racers that outstrip hounds’ return

مِنْ كُلِّ شَوْحَطَةٍ رَفِيعٍ صَدْرُهَا

شَقَّاءَ تَسْبِقُ رَجْعَةَ الكَلاَّبِ

And every dark-bay curly-haired stallion

Following the piebald, close to his kin

وَكُلِّ أَقْوَدَ أَعْوَجِيٍّ سَابِحٍ

عَبْلِ المُقَلَّدِ لاَحِقِ الأَقْرَابِ

Flicking flies with eyelash and tossing forelock

Raising dust clouds about mares heavy with foal

يَقِصُ الذُّبَابَ بِطَرْفِهِ وَنثِيرِهِ

وَيُثِيرُ نَقْعاً في ذُرَى الأَظْرَابِ

And weapons of every tall slim warrior

Posted at mountain-holds, belts tight-drawn

وَسُلاَحِ كُلِّ أَشَمَّ شَهْمٍ رَابِطٍ

عِنْدَ الحِفَاظِ مُقْلِّصِ الأَثْوَابِ

They charge Mu’sharrifa, whenever they ride by it

Breaking men’s bones and necks.

بالمُشْرَفيِّة كُلَّما صالوا بها

قَطَعَتْ عِظامَ سَواعِدٍ ورِقابِ