1. إِنَّ الَّتي نَظَرَت إِلَيكَ بِفادِرٍ

    نَظَرَت إِلَيكَ بِمِثلِ عَينَي جُؤذُرِ

    Indeed, she who gazed at you at Fadir

    Gazed at you with eyes like those of a wild-ox calf,

  2. وَسَنانَ نامَ فَأَيقَظَتهُ أُمُّهُ

    لِفُواقِ راعِيَةٍ بِعَهدٍ مُقفِرِ

    Drowsy, asleep, until its mother woke it

    For a brief suckle from a grazing dam in a deserted haunt.

  3. لا مِثلَ يَومِكَ يَومَ حَومَلَ إِذ أَتى

    يَومٌ يُفَرِّجُ غَيمُهُ لَم يُمطِرُ

    No day was like your day at Hawmal, when there came

    A day whose clouds cleared without bringing rain.

  4. وَإِذا الوَليدُ بَلَغتِهِ بِيَ فَاِشرَبي

    طَرَفَ السِنانِ عَلى وَتينِ المَنحَرِ

    And when you have brought me to al-Walid, then drink

    The spearhead’s tip at your throat’s vital artery.

  5. إِيّاهُ كُنتُ أَرَدتُ لَو بَلَّغتِني

    يَومَ اِرتَحَلتُ مِنَ العِراقِ الأَزوَرِ

    He was the one I sought—if only you would bring me to him—

    On the day I departed from crooked Iraq.

  6. يا خَيرَ مَن رَفَعَت إِلَيهِ مَطِيَّةٌ

    بِمُطَرَّدٍ جَهَدَ المَطِيَّةَ مُضمَرِ

    O best of those toward whom a riding-camel has hastened,

    Bearing a straight-built, lean rider who has worn the mount out.

  7. كَم أَدلَجَت بي سَخوَةٌ مِن لَيلَةٍ

    شَهباءَ أَو سَمِعَت زَئيرَ المُخدِرِ

    How often a supple she-camel has borne me through a night,

    Pale-grey, or heard the roar of a lion in its lair.

  8. قَلِقَت إِذا اِضطَرَبَت بِها أَنساعُها

    قَلَقَ المَحالَةِ فَوقَ مَتنِ المِحوَرِ

    She swayed whenever her girth-straps shook upon her,

    Like a great pulley swaying upon the back of its axle.

  9. وَتَظَلُّ تَحسِبَ ظِلِّها شَيطانَةً

    وَتَخالُ نافِرَةً وَإِن لَم تَنفِرِ

    And she keeps taking her shadow for a she-demon,

    And you think her bolting, even when she does not bolt.

  10. خَرقاءُ خالَطَ أُمَّها مِن عَوهَجٍ

    وَالأَرحَبِيَّةِ ضَربُها وَالأَدعَرِ

    A headlong camel: her dam had mingled stock from ‘Awhaj,

    From the Arhabiyyah and al-Ad‘ar in her breeding.

  11. لا تَستَطيعُ عَصا الغِلامِ وَإِن سَعى

    مَسّاً لِساقِ وَظيفِها المُصعَنفِرِ

    The boy’s staff cannot, even though he runs,

    Touch the shank of her swiftly darting leg.

  12. إِنَّ الوَليدَ وَلِيُّ عَهدِ مُحَمَّدٍ

    كُلَّ المَكارِمِ بِالمَكارِمِ يَشتَري

    Indeed, al-Walid is custodian of Muhammad’s covenant;

    He purchases every noble honor with noble deeds.

  13. لا تَطلُبي بي غَيرَهُ مِمَّن مَشى

    إِن أَنتِ ناقَ لَقيتِهِ بِالقَرقَرِ

    Bear me in search of no other among those who walk,

    If you, O camel, meet him on the level plain.

  14. سيري أَمامَكِ إِنَّها قَد مُكِّنَت

    لِيَدَيهِ راحِلَةُ الإِمامِ الأَكبَرِ

    Go straight ahead: it has already been placed firmly

    In his hands—the riding-camel of the greatest imam.