1. An evening departure, or morning and an early start,

    with debts that al-Shifa has not repaid?

  2. Were he to stay a thousand years, never leaving her,

    his stay beside her would not seem long.

  3. Is love for her wasting him, or has she been granted

    a beauty beyond what other women were given?

  4. Her face is radiant, her waist slender;

    noble and dark-eyed, she wounds the heart anew.

  5. And whenever she smiles, there gleam from her

    hailstones bordered by thirsty gums.

  6. Their taste is that of water from a dark, pebbly streambed,

    scoured by a radiant raincloud,

  7. within a banked cloud whose night showers pour fiercely,

    spreading all around, with cloud-mist floating within it.

  8. A mighty, restive one wrested command from her—

    [word fragment unclear]—lured only by the open waste.

  9. He stays behind the people in the wilderness when

    their time for returning and turning homeward comes.

  10. Content to graze without drinking, he never forsakes the herbage until

    the tawny wild asses and gazelles reach water before him.

  11. Every autumn-watered tract has pooled within it

    water from the torrents of spring and summer.

  12. It clothed the tract in flowering growth, nourished by

    winter's mild spells and seasonal rains.

  13. Soft and luxuriant, tall and dense: when the sun rises,

    dewdrops remain moist within its shade.

  14. There, to an age-old melody, sings

    the whistling lark amid the open stretches of its meadows,

  15. like the singing of a reveler newly drunk,

    set singing by a staggering intoxication.

  16. Will you not ease your cares with a sturdy she-camel,

    smooth-paced, when the desert opens before you?

  17. Like a tawny, barren wild she-ass, followed by

    a pale-flanked male full of ardor.

  18. To his spine and legs there clung,

    as glue clings to arrow shafts,

  19. a stain [reading uncertain] derived from the juice of brome grass,

    grown tall, tender, and fine-tipped.

  20. He is compactly built, firmly formed in leanness,

    lean-bellied, worn thin by running.

  21. A year's shed hair flew from him, as

    an outer coat flies from a shirt-clad foreigner.

  22. He drove away the hardy, full-grown males until

    the little wild asses left him a clear space.

  23. Skittish, he has lean, hardy she-asses,

    withered, who endure hard trials from him.

  24. They take turns striking him, blow after blow;

    nothing shields his brows from it.

  25. Thus on his exposed chest and forelegs

    are furrows none can fail to see.

  26. Frisky, he keeps snatching bites,

    taking strips of their hides with each.

  27. He fought the earth with his hooves until

    the stony ground wore away his hoof-frogs.

  28. He complains of sore feet; yet from him, when he strains

    at full speed, they still gain useful service.

  29. He kept them back, though they longed to drink, until

    the pastures could no longer hold them,

  30. at Ghurab, toward Ulaha, until

    the foals had grown to match their mothers.

  31. The star drew near its setting, and there returned

    each day a pale, blazing noon.

  32. Whenever he drove us far from what she desired,

    a lively, white-flanked she-ass strayed far away.

  33. They roamed back and forth in al-Samawa until

    its rain-pools and ponds failed them.

  34. Then they reached Dhu al-Muwayqiʿ, when

    Musaddaʿ and then al-Nada' had dried up on them.

  35. Then they gathered around him and pelted him

    with dust that lay upon him like a cloak,

  36. billowing, as though it were fine Sabiri cloth,

    or fine striped fabric and broad wraps.

  37. Nearing a reliable watering-place, until they were halted

    by plentiful water south of al-Badiʿ.

  38. They stood crosswise, not yet entering to drink, as

    Orion stands crosswise at its rising,

  39. for a while; then they sought relief in sweet water,

    whose watering approaches had been cleared of reeds.

  40. Then they waded into it until, when

    their hoof-joints and teats had entered it,

  41. they quenched their thirst, then turned away

    at night, fully satisfied with its water.

  42. Al-Walid bestowed upon me, on the day at Usays,

    ten-month-pregnant she-camels, a source of wealth and splendor.

  43. Onlookers, unless they examine their teeth,

    think them old, though they are young.

  44. Fat and pregnancy had developed in their udders

    to fullness, and their rump joints had loosened.

  45. So we brought great she-camels to calving; they grazed al-Hawwa

    or Jawsh, and were arched-necked and fat.

  46. When the evening herdsman gathers them, they sway

    clear of udders that are like buckets.

  47. And the two servants keep returning with the curved milking bowl

    among them, until the milk-skin overflows.

  48. By evening the tribe leaves their milk's froth untouched,

    having no need of their loaves of bread.

  49. A young man's right hand showered them upon me,

    a splendid man: that hand neither stingy nor coarse.

  50. His bounty is truly useful: when one obtains from him

    a gift, it brings elevation and honor.

  51. No other has built [wording uncertain]; may his life be prolonged

    in kingship, and may blessings be complete.

  52. A lord to whom the rescuer turns whenever

    it is asked, on the day of boasting, 'Where is effective aid?'

  53. His nobility is not excessive; it is approached by neither

    tyranny nor pride.

  54. Yet al-Walid is the one God chose,

    and in him the Muslims have guardianship.

  55. No prince can suffice in his stead; rather,

    all the people are a ransom for their sovereign.

  56. I see no hard-pressed man come to you without

    the slanderers and enemies shrinking from him.

  57. And if some fugitive among them turns away from you,

    he falls, then the far reaches fling him about.

  58. You are above what I say, yet

    you have my sincere devotion and praise.

  59. And to his household among Quraysh

    its numbers and distinction reach their utmost.

  60. God was pleased with them and chose them,

    and among His servants He has chosen ones.

  61. So I see that they are worthy of that,

    for they are the best whom the sky shades.

  62. They safeguarded what God entrusted to them among those people;

    every people has guardians under their command.

  63. And when mercy for a people is intended

    by their Lord—who does whatever He wills—

  64. He places authority among their men of judgment.

    Surely the best of creation are the God-fearing.

  65. Oppression despairs of existing in a land

    where they are, or of coming from where they came.

  66. The way of God and the Messenger: there is in

    their rule neither doubt nor obstinate contention.

  67. They set the Muslims straight, until

    truth's practice and good faith stood firm among them,

  68. and they righted the scales after short-weighing, so there circulated

    the people's goods and gifts among them.

  69. And so the slave in his cloak is given

    his due, and the simple-minded slave-girl hers.

Sol 6.1