1. نبه الليل بالوجيف ولا تو

    لع بدار الهوان بالأغماض

    Rouse the night with swift trotting, and do not grow

    fond of closing your eyes in the abode of humiliation.

  2. وأقر ضيف الهموم كل أمون

    عنتريس وباز شرواض

    And entertain the guest of cares with every trusty she-camel,

    sturdy and strong, and a mature camel, tall and massive.

  3. أنقذتني من الردى وطأتي البي

    د ونقص الهموم بالأنقاض

    I was saved from death by my treading the

    deserts, and by easing cares with travel-worn camels.

  4. شكلها كتالقسي وهي سهامٌ

    للفلا والرغاء كالأنباض

    Their forms are like bows, yet they are arrows

    for the wilderness, and their bellowing is like bowstrings twanging.

  5. خلتها حين خاضت الليل سبحا

    غمست من دجاه في خضخاض

    I imagined them, as they swam through the night,

    immersed in a mire of its darkness.

  6. صدعت عرمض الدياجر حتى

    كرعت في ماء الصباح المفاض

    They cleaved the algal scum of darkness until

    they drank from the outpoured water of morning,

  7. حين راع الظلام وخط مشيب

    قد سرى في سواده ببياض

    when a streak of gray hair startled the darkness,

    having crept through its blackness with whiteness.