1. Spare me, Amira, the whispered talk,

    and the trouble stirred against me, and secret converse.

  2. With firm resolve I cut short a slanderer's creeping,

    and indeed the slanderer's scorpions prowl by night.

  3. Is it now, when I have cast my veil from my head,

    and calamities have drawn me into the open,

  4. and the house-dwelling spirits have circled me, raising a clamor,

    like the clamorous crowds circling toward Duwar,

  5. that my sword-edges should dull, or I should be cowed

    by a slave's threats among these petty folk?

  6. We have bestowed favors on the client, and benefactions

    on our peers, reaching into every house.

  7. So I do not flee the brandishing of tall spears,

    nor the bright Mashrafi swords brought out for raids.

  8. We sheltered the Bahili from deadly fates,

    yet he did not thank us for our generous protection.

  9. He rivals us in boasting, though our favor rests upon him;

    and what has the Bahili to boast of?

  10. How strange, then, is this aged slave!

    Would he wrong me, though he wears no bracelet?

  11. I tell him, for I surpass him

    as the lion surpasses the hyraxes:

  12. 'You have drawn near the noble, but you are not one of them.

    Stand back, son of a woman who fucks a donkey.

  13. We were created masters, and you were created a dog,

    like a wretched dog trailing a camel train.'

  14. You have forgotten how we drove Zuhayr away from you,

    and Ja'dah, when he advanced in strength,

  15. on the evening they cried out to Iqal,

    so he warded off one of the great calamities from you.

  16. He set out at dawn with his steeds, and they met their death,

    while the fluttering banners gleamed in the dust.

  17. And many a reckless fool has argued fiercely with us;

    I told him: 'Learn, then argue.'

  18. If you doubt a Bahili's lineage,

    then lift a corner of his loincloth off him.

  19. On the buttocks of their chiefs is an inscription:

    'Clients of Amir'—a brand made with fire.

  20. So this was when my prowess brought me to the fore,

    and I terrified the tribes of Nizar.

  21. One age passed and handed me over, still noble,

    to an age that swerves without a bridle.

  22. A Bahili strove to be my equal,

    but how could he vie with borrowed glory?

  23. In his baseness he sought to soil my honor,

    but how far the sun is from filth and shame!

  24. I swore by the slaughter-place of camels offered in sacrifice,

    and I swear by the Station and the ritual pebbles:

  25. A fine master indeed is the master of Dukhan's two sons,

    when winter shakes down over the smoke of roasting meat.

  26. He gives generously to them and defends them

    with swords and plentiful provisions.

  27. O Bahila, return to your master in abasement,

    and do not run in the daylight,

  28. before every man, in hostility toward a master,

    while Bahila, son of A'sur, suffers loss.

  29. Answer your master and serve him,

    for the slave is more deserving of abasement.

  30. O Bahila, your standing is not like mine,

    if you will not desist—and the truth lies bare.

  31. O Bahila, I have not given you away for you to leave,

    nor is my client a borrowed treasure.

Sol 6.1