1. كَأَنَّ السَرايا بَينَ قَوٍّ وَقارَةٍ

    عَصائِبُ طَيرٍ يَنتَحَينَ لَمَشرَبِ

    As though the raiding bands between Qaww and Qarah

    Were flocks of birds making for a watering place.

  2. وَقَد كُنتُ أَخشى أَن أَموتَ وَلَم تَقُم

    قَرائِبُ عَمروٍ وَسطَ نَوحٍ مُسَلِّبِ

    And I had feared I would die before there arose

    Amr’s kinswomen amid mourners clad in mourning garb.

  3. شَفى النَفسَ مِنّي أَو دَنا مِن شِفائِها

    تَرَدّيهُمُ مِن حالِقٍ مُتَصَوِّبِ

    My soul was healed—or nearly healed—

    By their headlong fall from a lofty, steeply sloping peak.

  4. تَصيحُ الرُدَينِيّاتُ في حَجَباتِهِم

    صِياحَ العَوالي في الثِقافِ المُثَقَّبِ

    The Rudayni spears shriek in their hipbones,

    Like spear-shafts shrieking in the perforated straightening tool.

  5. كَتائِبُ تُجزى فَوقَ كُلِّ كَتيبَةٍ

    لِواءٌ كَظِلِّ الطائِرِ المُتَقَلِّبِ

    Battalions are requited; above every battalion

    A banner, like the shadow of a wheeling bird.