إِلى ظُعنٍ يَتبَعنَ في قَتَرِ الضُحى

إِلى ظُعنٍ يَتبَعنَ في قَتَرِ الضُحى

بِعُدوَةِ وَدّانَ المَطِيَّ الرَواسِما

بِعُدوَةِ وَدّانَ المَطِيَّ الرَواسِما

Toward women in litters, following in the forenoon's dusty haze

To ravines they followed in the darkness of dusk,

the swift-striding camels along Waddān's bank.

With a racing she-camel, her reins slack,

تَخَلَّلنَ أَجزاعَ الضَئيدِ غُدَيَّةً

تَخَلَّلنَ أَجزاعَ الضَئيدِ غُدَيَّةً

وَرُعنَ اِمرِءاً بِالحاجِبِيَّةِ هائِما

وَرُعنَ اِمرِءاً بِالحاجِبِيَّةِ هائِما

They threaded through al-Ḍaʾīd's valley bends early one morning,

They threaded through the trunks of withered trees at dawn,

and startled a man at al-Ḥājibiyya, distraught with love.

And startled a man in al-Hajibiyya distraught.

وَمَرَّت تَحُثُّ السائِقاتِ جِمالَها

وَمَرَّت تَحُثُّ السائِقاتِ جِمالَها

بِها مُجتَوى ذي مَعيَطٍ فَالمَخارِما

بِها مُجتَوى ذي مَعيَطٍ فَالمَخارِما

And she passed, urging the women driving her camels,

Past them the she-camels marched, their driver urging them on,

which bore her through Dhū Maʿyaṭ's inhospitable tract, then al-Makhārim.

There a refuge with weakened enclosures and decaying roofs.

فَلَمّا اِنقَضَت أَيّامُ نَهبَلَ كُلُّها

فَلَمّا اِنقَضَت أَيّامُ نَهبَلَ كُلُّها

وَواجَهنَ دَيموماً مِنَ الخَبتِ قاتِما

وَواجَهنَ دَيموماً مِنَ الخَبتِ قاتِما

Then, when all the days at Nahbal had ended,

When the days of plunder had passed, wholly gone,

and they faced a dark, trackless desert of al-Khabt,

They faced a perpetual gloom of destitution, bleak.

تَيامَنَّ عَن ذي المُرِّ في مُسبَطِرَّةِ

تَيامَنَّ عَن ذي المُرِّ في مُسبَطِرَّةِ

يَدُلُّ بِها الحادي المُدِلُّ المُراوِما

يَدُلُّ بِها الحادي المُدِلُّ المُراوِما

they turned right, away from Dhū al-Murr, across a broad, level expanse,

They refused the man of ill omen in al-Musabtirah,

where the confident camel-driver shows the seeker the way.

Where the guide points, slowly leading on his mount.