Sol 5.6

  1. My she-camel be a ransom for the sons of Dhuhl ibn Shayban,

    and her rider too, on the day of battle—small though the ransom be.

  2. They were the ones who struck, at al-Hinu—Hinu Quraqir—

    the vanguard of al-Hamarz, until it turned and fled.

  3. God bless the eyes of whoever saw a band

    more formidable to the cupbearers’ hands than that one,

  4. which came upon them from al-Batha, its white helmets flashing,

    its standards already raised, then swept forward.

  5. They wheeled, and we wheeled, with death between us;

    the battle’s engulfing tumult surged over us, then cleared.

  6. War, grey-haired and pregnant, had bared its arms against the people,

    full-grown and fierce; its goading led men astray.

  7. They checked al-Hamarz when he came, a standard fluttering above him

    like an eagle’s shadow when it stoops and hangs low.

  8. They held inviolate the sanctuary they were defending; and by morning

    women in traveling litters who had stood halted were ours, and then alighted.

  9. They made them taste a bitter cup of death;

    their horsemen had towered proudly, and it brought them low.

  10. Their ample coats of mail were white and light, and above them

    white helmets rose like stars.

  11. None remained but a tall figure sheathed in flowing mail,

    while a band of them came down to level ground and appeared.

  12. At dawn he fell upon them at al-Hinu—Hinu Quraqir—

    and at its Dhu Qar; through it the armies were shattered.

  13. on every steed with a tightly knit back, as though it were

    an eagle swooping from a lookout after soaring high.

  14. Then upon al-Hamarz, amid their tents, there poured

    torrents of death, streaming down and bursting forth.

  15. The Sons of the Free were checked when there stood firm against them

    mighty, thick-necked horsemen of Shayban; then they fled.

  16. Qays escaped them, and I said, “Perhaps he will

    recover, even if the sandal beneath him slipped.”

  17. They did not let up until their women urged them on,

    and they drove against it with arrows until it yielded.

  18. By your life, nothing wears a young man down like his own concern

    when a pressing need grows grave within his breast.

Sol 5.6