Sol 5.6

  1. Why did you not ask the sons of Nabhan what my standing is—

    amid the thrust of spears, when eyes blaze red;

  2. when the cavalry charges, their forechests crimson,

    and clotted blood, mingled with sweat, streams from their throat-hollows—

  3. whether I spear the horseman guarding what is his to defend

    with a gaping wound in which doubt and rancor perish;

  4. and strike the champion as the two cavalry hosts wheel aside,

    while every hero, ours and our foes’ alike, is panic-stricken?

  5. The horses know that I was their champion rider

    on the day of al-Akuss, when valor shone splendidly—

  6. when Aws cried, “Is there no man of Tayy

    to guard our sacred honor while the warriors’ bright blades flash?”

  7. My protected neighbor knows that I am not one to fail him

    if ravening Time assails, gnawing him to the very bone.

  8. For I do not count wealth a quenching draught; rather, I see

    grave reproach in it, while men’s appointed deaths close in.

  9. Such is my renown: if it pleases you, be content;

    or be displeased—for I am one toward whom the neck turns.

Sol 5.6