1. When she saw the Qaysi’s banner advancing,

    toward me, she was alarmed and said to me, “What is to be done?”

  2. I said, “Battle is neither my counsel nor my work;

    I have neither she-camel nor camel in this affair.”

  3. That was once, when the ringing neighs at morning

    would shake my sides as though I were a drunken drinker.

  4. But now the pasture has withered, and the—

    tents have been struck; after lingering, the caravan is setting out.

  5. She said, “Are you not Shihāb al-Dīn, setting it ablaze?

    High honor forbid that it be said: ‘The camel became a she-camel.’

  6. Yet better than this or that is a refuge

    through whose like, amid calamities, hope is attained.

  7. It is Abu Hammu’s sanctuary; seek his protection, for in—

    it security hangs like a curtain, and excellence is complete.

  8. By God, if the shepherd left the choice flock unattended there,

    no straying herd there would fear the lions of Khaffān.

  9. You will be among Moses’ people: when they judge, they act justly,

    and when an unjust age hangs back, they charge.

  10. They are the firmly rooted mountains whenever they show forbearance;

    they are the swelling seas whenever they display nobility.

  11. So I said, “May the All-Merciful be yours after me: there is

    none but Him to rely upon, while resolve is at work.”

  12. And here I am beneath a shade from him that wraps me,

    while my whole being is enveloped in honor’s protection.

  13. So tell Qays: “The calculation has indeed failed; do not

    rekindle the combat, and under cover of night, depart.”

  14. May the rain clouds of favor endure for him, vying

    with his right hand: it gushes with good fortune and streams abundantly.

  15. May the sun of his exalted glory be secure from setting until

    existence is folded away—when there is neither sun nor Ram.

Sol 5.6