Sol 5.6

  1. And ʿĀʾidha, whom Tamīm used

    to send forward where honor stood exposed;

  2. and the men of al-Shaqīqa, on the day they met

    Banū Shaybān with thirsting spears;

  3. and a lofty lord, stringer of a kingdom’s beads,

    leading cavalry whose mares cast off their foals.

  4. In fury he descended upon them, and met

    death’s branching paths, or captivity’s rings.

  5. And every day the clan of Ḍabba was exalted

    by battles with naked, unsheathed blades;

  6. and by charging foremost when the dooms grappled

    on sleek horses, through the engulfing depths.

  7. They slay kings; and among them are

    the horsemen of the battles of Ṭikhfa and al-Nisār.

  8. And they—yes, they—were the defenders when

    each would-be defender left honor to another.

  9. Among them were the chieftains of old,

    and they slew the enemy in every land.

  10. So no enemy of Ḍabba ever passes the evening

    asleep—or lets others sleep—for fear.

Sol 5.6