Ode CXXIV: Dost thou recognize the abodes of

Dost thou recognize the abodes of the household of Maiy, by the side of ash-Shaqiq, now empty and desolate ?

The gazelles and the oryx therein seem as though they had clad themselves in thin white muslin of Rai.

I stood there at evening, while the place gave no clear answer to the questioner, save only a secret word.

Then was I as though I had drunken a morning draught of wine, flowing smoothly down the gullet, that rises into a man's head, unmixed, potent —

The juice that flows without pressure from white grapes, wine brought from Media : the buyer who has bid it up to a high price eagerly breaks away the clay seals from off the jars.

Kubaishah said in her foolishness — ' Hair long since hoary, and wits away on loan elsewhere ! '

Nay, hoariness only increases my generosity, what time the suckling women sniff greedily after the smell of roasting meat ;

I bring life again to the needy, and give abundantly out of regard for my good name, and deal kindly with him in all things ;

And I defend my stranger from all distresses, and he whom I shelter is secure whithersoever he goes.

I have prepared for war a mare brought up on milk : she [outstrips and] turns back upon her two grooms the wild ass —

A bay, bright in colour like the border of a robe of Atham — the training has not left in her a single blemish,

[Keen of heart — even the unskilful rider, when the horses gallop, mounted on her seems almost to be flying] .

Legs has she, [spare of flesh,] like the side-poles of a woman's camel-litter from which those that put it together have separated the upper framework.

Her pasterns are compact and firm : the bones of her legs are not weak, nor are the veins on them knotty.

A hoof she has [round and small] like a boy's cup, in which a mouse might make a place to lodge in.

Her hindquarters are like the back of a tent of leather, the tent-pitchers of which have stretched the short ropes about the base thereof.

Bear tidings to Riyah, distant though they be, and bear tidings to the Sons of Darim and the Jimar,

And bear tidings to the tribes that were not present — the affair confused them and struck them with giddiness.

How far distant were our purposes one from the other! he went on cropping the grass, while we were bent on a foray

With 'Auf son of Ka'b and the host of the Ribab — a mighty matter and a multitudinous host !

Ho, the spear-thrust that vexes the foe, and thereby attains to a lasting result !

If it had not been for the unwearied prowess of our steeds, the folk had brought on you shame and disgrace even more than befell.

When we have exhausted the water of a drinking-place, we [pass on and] light up the flame of war on the higher land.

We go straight through the land for love of battle, and we pay no heed to birds of omen wheresoever they fly —

Whether they come from the left, or pass us from the right — whatever be the case, we find things easy for us.

We lead along by their leading-ropes noble mares, that drop their foals in the valley of ar-Rusha'.

Our vanguard leaves prints of its hoofs in the hard soil, as the cultivator of Hajar cuts water-channels [with his spade] .

We drank water at Hawwa in the days of greatest heat : then we went on for three days, then returned to the wells.

And [our horse] shrouded Damkh in a cloud of dust like the veil of a bride who draws round her eyebrows the head-cloth.

And Fazarah was well-nigh consumed through us — woe to thee, O Fazarah, woe, Fazarah !

Had [our horse] overtaken them, they would have twisted for them a stout, strongly-knit, cable of ruin.

They destroyed Numair and the tribe of al-Harlsh, and the tribe of Kilab they utterly destroyed ;

We were among them a roaring lion, who will have no other end but to leap upon his prey.

And the Son of Kuz fled with his little troops of camels : would that the Son of Kuz had waited to see us by day

In Jumran, or at the back of Na'itun, or in the level plain where [our horse] ascended to an-Nisar.

But he passed on and fled without stopping in his terror : and the Son of Kuz was like an oryx affrighted [by the hunters].

But [our horse] encountered in the morning Suwa'ah of Sa'd and Nasr in face-to-face combat,

And the tribe of Suwaid — and they did not miss, and Ghanm — and to Ghanm they were utter destruction ;

And each one of their tribes was caused to follow a treatment [for the cure of the rancour that was in them], as the mange brings in its train treatment with salt and pitch ;

And in every place thou mayst see of them on all sides widows [lamenting husbands slain], and men going afoot [because their camels have all been taken], athirst [with grief and pain, and for vengeance].