Ode XXXIII: Thou man of the Children of

Thou man of the Children of Taim, wilt thou not render me back the beast I lent thee — for loans are given to be repaid ?

And if thou returnest me Ghamrah, thou shalt be paid by me all honour, as long as traders seek for their traffic's gain:

A six-year-old, true Arab stock, well covered with silken hair, full of milk, as if Hauran's troughs had yielded their flow to her:

As if she had fed on the grass of Jaulan, and summered on where grows the wadl'ah of Jals, with hips broad .and parted wide ;

Her hair is set close and long, her neck is uplifted high, her body compact and plump, her tooth browses ceaselessly;

And if on a winter's night the call comes to her by name —a night when the clouds hang low, with fringes of pouring rain—

She steps forth before the twain who milk her, with udders full projecting beyond her thighs, and smiting her parted legs.

A marvel is she : her milk alone is enough to sate the starveling lost all night in dry hills and barren plains.

The noise of the flowing stream resembles a crackling flame, whenas in the pail her milk is drawn by the herdsman's hands.

And if she has nought to browse but only a knawed old stump, whereon drought forbids all sprouts to kindle its bark with green,

She comes as if dark-green qaswar-twigs full of sap and fruit, that stand forth in order down its stem, had blown out her dugs.

The pail of nudar-wood fills beneath her, and high the tide of cool milk within it rises, topping its sides with foam.