Ode CXI: I have revealed my love for

I have revealed my love for Juml — what a revelation ! and her case with me has come to light after being long kept hidden ;

And tale-bearers have been busy between us, and carried their stories abroad, until I had to avoid her, though I meant not to break the bond. ($) Shall there carry me to her a fleet camel, good as a stallion, strong, bulky under the saddle, tractable, easy in hand ?

She is like a [wild ass] white in the flanks, whom an archer has driven away from the water of Mawan [by missing him] after he had him in his power ;

And he speeds swiftly through the stony deserts, [extended] like a spit of iron, while on either side of him is a cloud of dust :

The hoofs of his slightly-curved hind-legs fall on a place little liked (?), a plain of hard flat land covered with crumbling stones.

He tries for the water of Qutayyat, but it fails him, and the place where at last he finds drink is a water in Hauran :

[Daylong the waterfowl swim therein in little groups together, with eyes alert, bright like black moles on the face.]

He feared no hunter there, but plunged at once into its depths, and slaked his thirst with sweet water, no oozings of salt earth.

How noble the people whose chiefs we saw but yesterday — the best of protectors when calamities lour around !

[Our camels] pasture, watering every second day : and if they break the compact by coming down to drink the next day at noon, generous men deal gently with the transgressor's fault.

The two al-Hariths easily outstrip all others in the race to the goal, as two thoroughbred steeds keep the running entirely to themselves :

The pair deal their wealth abroad, seeking thereby fair fame : and praise is not to be bought save for a goodly price.