1. How long shall we remain in inaction,

    O Hashim, while the people are gathered in a great host?

  2. They summon the cavalry, in apprehension

    Of us, in fear and in a place apart;

  3. Like a black locust-swarm, sped onward

    By its swiftest across a vast, trackless plain.

  4. Helmets upon them, riding in a cavalry troop,

    Like sandgrouse making for the watering place.

  5. O my people, defend your multitudes

    With every cleaving sword, astride a long-tailed steed:

  6. Keen-edged, measuring five [units], its edge a piercing thrust—

    Heirlooms of the noblest, passed to the noblest.

  7. Broad, measuring six [units], its gallop a flame,

    Kept fit through conditioning within a fortress.

  8. For how often I have been at war among young men,

    Amid battle's din, in the swirling dust-cloud,

  9. Who never drew aside when you came to them,

    And in war's tumult were like young lions.

Sol 6.1