1. ما قلتُ هَيَّجَ عيْنَهُ لِبُكائِها

    مَحْسُورَةً باتَتْ عليَّ إِغْفائِها

    What I said stirred his eye to weeping;

    wearied, it spent the night dozing over me.

  2. فكأَنَّ حَبَّةَ فُلْفُلٍ في عينِهِ

    ما بَيْنَ مُصْبَحِها إلى إِمْسائِها

    As though a peppercorn lay in his eye,

    from morning right through to evening.

  3. سَفَهاً تَذَكُّرُهُ خُوَيلَةَ بَعْدَ مَا

    حالَتْ قُرى نَجْرانَ دُونَ لِقائِها

    Foolish was his remembering Khuwayla, after

    Najran's villages had barred his meeting with her.

  4. واحْتَلَّ أَهْلِي بالكَّثِيبِ وأَهْلُها

    في دارِ كَلْبٍ أَرْضِها وسَمائِها

    And my kin settled at the dune, while hers

    were in Kalb's domain, on its earth and beneath its sky.

  5. يا خَوْلَ ما يُدْرِيك رُبَّتَ حُرَّةٍ

    خَوْدٍ كَرِيمَةٍ حَيِّها ونسائها

    O Khawl, what can you know? Many a freeborn woman,

    a tender young beauty, honored among her clan and its women,

  6. قد بِتُّ مالِكَها وشارِبَ رَيَّةٍ

    قبلَ الصَّباحِ كَرِيمةٍ بِسِبائِها

    I have spent the night possessing her and drinking a full draught

    before dawn, costly to purchase.

  7. ومُغِيرَةٍ نَسْجَ الجَنُوبِ شَهِدْتُها

    تَمْضِي سَوابِقُها عَلَي غُلَوائِها

    And many a raiding troop, weaving like the south wind, I have witnessed,

    its foremost steeds sweeping onward in their headlong rush,

  8. بمُحالةٍ تَقِصُ الذُّبابَ بِطَرْفِها

    خُلِقَتْ مَعَاقِمُها عَلَى مُطوائِها

    mounted on a sturdy mare that tracks flies with her gaze,

    her joints fashioned to suit her long frame.

  9. كَسَبِيبَةِ السِّيَراءِ ذاتِ عُلالَةٍ

    تَهْدِي الجِيادَ غَداةً غِبّ لِقائِها

    Like a strip of striped silk, with stamina in reserve,

    she leads the steeds at dawn, the day after her encounter.

  10. هَلاَّ سأَلْتِ بِنا فَوارِسَ وائلٍ

    فَلَنَحْنُ أَسْرَعُها إلى أَعْدائِها

    Why did you not ask Wa'il's horsemen about us?

    For we are surely its swiftest to reach its enemies,

  11. ولنحْنُ أَكْثَرُها إذا عُدَّ الحَصَى

    ولَنا فَواضِلها ومَجْدُ لِوائِها

    and we are surely its most numerous when the pebbles are counted;

    and ours are its distinctions and the glory of its banner.