Ode LXXI: Carry this message to thy home

Carry this message to thy home, to Wa'il father of Khulaid — ' Verily I have seen to-day a sight that made me marvel —

' How that the Son of Ja'dah has driven [his camels] far away to al-Buwain, while the Sons of Khafajah are busy following the tracks of a fox.

' And in sooth I see a tribe there other than them, belonging to the folk that inhabit al-Amil, the rich in herbage.

['And I felt disgust at what I saw, and it revolted me; and I had been angry, if I had seen any advantage in anger.']

I humbled not myself through fear among them, and when they drank, I was invited to drink with them ;

And when they played at their appointed times for play, I did not with-draw myself to pass the night apart, but played with them.

And all night long a skilled songstress sang antiphonally with another like her, young and fair, brought up in luxury, and struck the resounding lute,

Among brothers who join together generous heart and hand, who break up their possessions [to give them away] when the bite of Winter nips men sorely.

Thou seest the best of their raiment full of holes : but their Mashrafite swords they dress up in gold brocade.

'Amr son of Marthad is the noble in all his doings : and his sons — he was the generous, and he begat generous seed.