تصيح به الأصداء يخشى به الردى — Farazdaq

Owls cry out within it, and death is feared there,

a vast expanse for the trailing skirts of stormy winds.

To you, Commander of the Faithful, they took a trackless course,

the tawny camels bearing us through the desert's depths and desolate wastes.

When the chanting camel-driver calls to them, they bound forward,

rising with necks held high and forelegs swinging outward.

A ship of the land, her swift pace made ready

to traverse terrors that make hearts tremble.

A mighty, lean she-camel whose saddle-girths creak,

one of the night-trotting camels, full of headlong vigor.

As though her muzzle had been clothed in carded cotton,

with tufts upon it from the strings of cotton-carding bows.

I made a plea to God's trustee on earth,

that the best of caliphs might set my legs free.

So, O best of earth's people, if you could see

on my legs the marks of the chafing fetters,

then I would surely hope for pardon from you, and mercy,

and the justice of a ruler compassionate toward his subjects.

Hisham, son of the best of men, save Muhammad

and his companions—I have never committed against you

any deceit—by Him for whom were slaughtered

Quraysh's offerings: every gray, aged she-camel.

Did Marwan not protect me when I came to him

in flight, with my breath drawn back between my ribs?

And he protects a neighbor who kneels his camel in his forecourt;

with Marwan's son he has a watering-place from which to draw.

To the house of Marwan all glory has come,

and every massed multitude of the Khanadif.

They are the noblest, the most numerous; there has always been

among them one who rejects evil and recognizes what is right.

Your forefather is Abu al-Asi, whose neighbor was

more unassailable than the white-footed ibex above the chasms.