Ode XCIX: To whom belong the dwellings thou

To whom belong the dwellings thou hast lighted on at al-An'um, the traces of which stand forth like the markings of a spotted snake ?

The East wind has played with them, and they have become unrecognizable, but for a remnant of their trench with its sides broken in.

They were the abode of a girl with white side-teeth, soft and tender, slender in the flanks, plump in the fore-arm where the bracelet goes round.

She listened to the talk of the tale-bearers about us, and has severed the bonds that bound her to thee, and gone with thy former partners on their road towards Syria ;

And thou hast become, from excess of longing and desire of love, stricken at heart like one smitten senseless.

Why dost thou not bring forgetfulness to thy grief with a strong she-camel, brisk as a wild ass, like a stallion-camel scarred with bites,

One that goes proudly with the saddle upon her, trustworthy in the night journey — one that slaps her thighs with her tail, and breaks the stones with her chipped hoof?

Ask Tamim of their wars with us, and 'Amir — and is the experienced like him who does not know ?

Tamlm were wroth because 'Amir were slaughtered on the day of an-Nisar : so they were brought in the end to calamity themselves.

Our wont was, when they shouted' loudly for war, to cure the fume in their heads with a band of warriors that shocked them hard ;

We batter the tops of their helmets with our swords, and we shout our names and our fathers', while our horses are marked about their throats with blood.

[Our steeds] come forth from the dust-cloud with bared teeth, dashing along like beasts of prey, mounted on each a warrior like a lion dusky brown of hue,

Warriors long in the baldric, that leap down to engage on foot, that long to reach their adversaries, not clipped in their claws !

So they broke their host, and Hajib fled away beneath the dust-cloud, enveloped in dusky mirk ;

And they saw their eagle, the triumphant, attacked by a lion, buff-coloured, sharp-clawed, mighty in his grip.

Aforetime our men slew Hujr — all' the spears were pointed at him, and prone he fell on his face :

He strives to rise — but into his body have passed the shafts of the spears, all pliant and supple, fitted with sharp spear-heads.

And the Sons of Numair — we have met of them cavalry whose gums watered for spoil :

But our riders came upon them unawares — every. prancing mare, and horse that in his bounds cuts through the girth-rings of the light saddle, battering the ground mightily with his hoofs.

And they trampled on the Sons of Kilab with a vehement trampling, and drove them to take refuge by the tent-poles of their camping-place.

And before that they brought disaster to Ka'b, with lances well straightened, which the hands ply nimbly to and fro,

Until we gave them to drink of a bitter cup, the sips of which were as nauseous to the taste as colocynth.