1. I say to a she-camel whose upper bones are stripped of flesh,

    whose two footpads drag the leather binding fastened over them,

  2. a companion to sunken-eyed camels in swift travel; drawn together are

    their harness-loops, and they have miscarried the cloaked fetus.

  3. The womb-passages that barred its way were eased open,

    and whatever was sealed within the wombs was unlocked

  4. by scorching noons that milked out hot sweat, and relentless

    travel; she has tasted neither a grazing stop nor a resting-place.

  5. And a winding wilderness, where water comes at best on the fifth day; no

    pale camels, should they halt there, would find sustenance there.

  6. And men who scorn the march; it has worn thin for them

    the tunics spared by the one already torn to rags.

  7. If you bring me to Qatan, son of Mudrik,

    then may you meet a roller among the birds of the hocks—

  8. a keen sword-point, or the two wings of one that cuts

    the backs of riding-camels, leaving the backbone severed.

  9. Strong and trustworthy, effective in Ibn Yusuf's service,

    through his obedience, in the eyes of the one who has assumed responsibility.

  10. And were Salma weighed against the forbearance of Ibn Mudrik,

    your forbearance would be heavier on the scales.

  11. I shall repay you for the kindness with which you favored me

    with your two hands; so hear the poetry of one who has carefully sifted

  12. odes that neither Zuhayr nor his son had the skill

    to compose, nor the man they dubbed al-Mukhabbal.

  13. Nor could the weaving of Imru' al-Qays produce their like;

    and their ascents defeated Labid and Jarwal,

  14. and the two Nabighas of Qays ibn 'Aylan, and the man

    whom some of what he had uttered brought face to face with death.

Sol 6.1