1. طَرِبْتُ وما هذا بسَاعَةِ مَطْرَبٍ

    إلى الحي حَلّوا بَيْنَ عاذٍ فجُبْجُبِ

    I was stirred with longing, though this is no hour for rejoicing,

    for the tribe that settled between ‘Adh and Jubjub

  2. قَدِيماً فأَمْسَتْ دارُهُمْ قَدْ تَلَعَّبَتْ

    بِها خَرَقاتُ الريحِ من كُلِّ مَلْعَبِ

    long ago; now their dwelling has been toyed with

    by gusts of wind from every quarter.

  3. وكَمْ قَدْ رَأَى رائِيهِمُ وَرَأَيْتُهُ

    بِها ليَ مِنْ عمٍّ كَرِيمٍ ومِنْ أَبِ

    How many a man their beholder saw, and I saw him too,

    there—a noble paternal uncle of mine, and a father.

  4. فَوارِسُ مِنْ آلِ النَّفاضَةِ سادَةٌ

    ومِنْ آلِ كَعْبٍ سُؤْدَدٌ غَيْرُ مُعْقَبِ

    Horsemen from the house of al-Nafadah, lords,

    and from the house of Ka‘b—nobility never superseded.

  5. وحيٍّ حرِيدٍ قد صَبَحْنا بِغارَةٍ

    فَلَمْ يُمْسِ بَيْتٌ مِنْهُمُ تَحْتَ كَوْكَبِ

    And an isolated tribe we assailed in a dawn raid,

    so by evening not one of their tents remained beneath a star.

  6. شَنَنَّا عليهم كلَّ جَرْداءَ شَطْبَةٍ

    لَجُوجٍ تُبارِي كُلَّ أَجْرَدَ شَرْجَبِ

    We unleashed upon them every sleek, slender mare,

    headstrong, vying with every sleek, long-bodied stallion,

  7. أَجَشَّ هَزِيمٍ في الخَبارِ إذا انْتَحى

    هَوادِي عِطْفَيْهِ العِنان مُقرّبِ

    hoarse and thunderous on soft ground when he turns

    his shoulders to the rein—a cherished steed.

  8. لوَحْشِيِّها مِنْ جانبَيْ زَفَيانِها

    حَفِيفٌ كَخُذْرُوفِ الوَلِيدِ المُثَقَّبِ

    At her outer flank, as she darts from side to side,

    is a whir like a child's perforated spinning top.

  9. إذا جاشَ بالماءِ الحَمِيمِ سِجالُها

    نَضَخْنَ بِهِ نَضْخَ المَزادِ المسَرَّبِ

    When her buckets surge with hot water,

    they spurt it as leaking waterskins spurt.

  10. فَذَرْ ذا ولكنّي تَمَنَّيْتُ رَاكِباً

    إذا قالَ قَوْلاً صادِقاً لَمْ يُكَذَّبِ

    Leave that; but I have wished for a rider

    who, when he speaks a truthful word, is not disbelieved.

  11. لَهُ ناقَةٌ عِنْدِي وَساعٌ وكُورُها

    كِلا مِرْفَقَيْها عَنْ رَحاها بمُجْنَبِ

    For him I have a wide-striding she-camel, and her saddle;

    both her elbows stand clear of her chest pad.

  12. إذا حَرَّكَتْها رحْلَةٌ جَنَحَتْ بِهِ

    جُنُوحَ القطاةِ تَنْتَحِي كُلَّ سَبْسَبِ

    When a journey sets her moving, she swoops with him,

    with a sandgrouse's swoop, heading for every open plain:

  13. جُنُوحَ قَطاةِ الوِرْدِ في عُصَبِ القَطا

    قَرَبْنَ مِياهَ النِّهْيِ مِن كُلِّ مَقْرَبِ

    the swoop of a watering sandgrouse among flocks of sandgrouse.

    They approached the pool's waters from every side.

  14. فَغادَيْنَ بالأَجْزاعِ فَوْقَ صَوائِقٍ

    وَمَدْفَعِ ذاتِ العَيْنِ أَعْذَبَ مَشْرَبِ

    At dawn they came to the valley bends above Sawa’iq,

    and the outflow of Dhat al-‘Ayn, the sweetest drinking-place.

  15. فَظَلْنَ نَشاوى بالعُيونِ كأَنَّها

    شَرُوبٌ بَدَتْ عَنْ مَرْزُبانٍ مُحَجَّبِ

    They lingered tipsy at the springs, as though they were

    drinkers emerging from a secluded marzuban.

  16. فَنالَتْ قلِيلاً شافِياً وَتَعجَّلتْ

    لنادِلِها بَيْنَ الشِّباكِ وَتَنْضُبِ

    She took a little that quenched her thirst, then hurried

    to her nestling between al-Shibak and Tandub.

  17. تَبِيتُ بمَوْماةٍ وتُصْبِحُ ثاوياً

    بِها في أَفاحِيصِ الغَوِيِّ المُعَصَّبِ

    It spends the night in a wasteland, and is still resting at dawn,

    there in the nest-scrapes of the foolish, turban-crowned one.

  18. وَضَمَّتْ إلى جَوْفٍ جَناحاً وجُؤْجُؤاً

    وناطَتْ قليلاً في سِقاءٍ مُحَبَّبِ

    She drew a wing and breast against her belly,

    and suspended a little in a pebbled waterskin.

  19. إذا فَتَرَتْ ضَرْبَ الجَناحَيْنِ عاقَبَتْ

    عَلى شُزُنَيْها مَنْكِباً بَعْدَ مَنْكَبِ

    When she slackened the beating of her two wings, she alternated

    along her two flanks, one shoulder after the other.

  20. فَلَمَّا أَحَسَّا جَرْسَها وتضوَّرا

    وَأَوْبَتها منْ ذلكَ المُتَأوِّبِ

    When the two sensed her sound and cried in distress,

    and her return from that homeward journey,

  21. تَدَلَّتْ إلى حُصِّ الرُّؤُّوسِ كأنَّها

    كُراتُ غُلامٍ مِنْ كِساءٍ مُرَنَّبِ

    she descended to the bare-headed ones, as though they were

    a boy's balls made of cloth woven with rabbit fur.

  22. فَلَمَّا انْجَلَتْ عَنْها الدُّجى وسَقَتْهُما

    صَبِيبَ سِقاءٍ نِيطَ لمّا يخرّبِ

    When darkness cleared from her and she gave the two to drink

    the outpouring of a suspended waterskin, not yet torn,

  23. غَدَتْ كَنَواةِ القَسْبِ عنها وأَصْبَحَتْ

    تُراطِنُها دَوّيّةٌ لَمْ تُعَرَّبِ

    she left them like a dry date-stone, and in the morning

    a wilderness babbled to her in a tongue never made Arabic.

  24. ولي في المُنى ألاّ يُعرّجَ راكبي

    وَيحْبِسَ عنها كُلَّ شيءٍ مُتَرَّبِ

    Among my wishes is that my rider not turn aside,

    and keep every dust-covered thing away from her.

  25. ويُفْرِجُ بَوَّابٌ لَها عَنْ مُناخِها

    بإقْلِيدِه بابَ الرِّتَاجِ المُضبّبِ

    And may a gatekeeper open for her, giving access to her kneeling-place,

    with his key, the iron-braced door of the great gate.

  26. إذا ما أُنيخَتْ بابنِ مَرْوانَ ناقَتي

    فلَيسَ عَلَيْها لِلْهَبانِيقِ مَرْكَبي

    When my she-camel is made to kneel before Ibn Marwan,

    then my seat upon her is not for fools.

  27. أُذِلَّتْ بقُرْبي عِنْدَه وقَضى لها

    قَضاءً فَلَمْ يُنْقَضْ ولم يُتَعَقَّبِ

    She was humbled through my closeness to him, and he decreed for her

    a judgment neither annulled nor reconsidered.

  28. فإنَّكَ بَعْدَ اللّهِ أَنْتَ أَميرُها

    وقُنْعانُها مِنْ كُلِّ خَوْفٍ ومرغبِ

    For, after God, you are her ruler,

    and her trusted refuge in every fear and longing.

  29. فَتَقضِي فَلَوْلا أَنَّه كُلُّ ريبَةٍ

    وكُلُّ قلِيلٍ مِنْ وَعِيدِكِ مُرْهِبي

    You judge; were it not that every misgiving

    and every slight threat of yours terrifies me,

  30. إذاً ما ابْتَغى العادِي الظَّلُومُ ظُلامةً

    عَلَيَّ ومَا أَجْلَبْتُ للْمُتَجَلِّبِ

    then the oppressive aggressor would seek no wrong

    against me, nor would I rally against one mustering forces.

  31. تُبادِرُ أبناءَ الوشاةِ وَتَبْتَغِي

    لَها طَلَباتِ الحقِّ مِن كُلِّ مَطْلَبِ

    You forestall the sons of slanderers and seek

    her rightful claims from every quarter.

  32. إذا أَدْلَجَتْ حَتَّى تَرى الصُبحَ واصَلَتْ

    أدِيمَ نَهارِ الشَّمْسِ ما لَمْ تَغَيَّبِ

    When she journeys by night until she sees dawn, she continues

    through the whole sunlit day, until the sun sets.

  33. فَلمَّا رَأَتْ دَارَ الأَميرِ تَحاوَصَتْ

    وصَوْتُ المُنادي بالأذانِ المثوَّبِ

    When she saw the prince's house, she narrowed her eyes,

    and the caller's voice with the reiterated call to prayer,

  34. وتَرْجِيعُ أصْواتِ الخصومِ يردّها

    سُقُوفُ بيوتٍ في طِمارِ مُبَوَّبِ

    and the reverberation of litigants' voices, echoed back

    by the roofs of houses in a lofty, gated structure.

  35. يَظَلُّ لأَعْلاها دَوِيٌّ كأنَّهُ

    تَرَنُّمُ قارِي بَيْتِ نَحْلٍ مُجَوَّبِ

    A hum lingers at their tops, as though it were

    the humming of a honey-gatherer in a hollowed-out beehive.