Ode LXXXII: O my two comrades, saddle the

O my two comrades, saddle the camels and hasten : for verily the time has come for the starter on his way to feel heart's pain !

Long has been the stay here : so bring near to me a full-grown she-camel, strong and sturdy, fit to carry two through the desert lands.

She has eaten of the barley of as-Sailahun and its clover, and out of it she has stored up for me fleetness ;

And she is like a she-ostrich in the sand-margin of Mulaihah, with her legs dyed green with the herbage, tall, vying in speed with a black-plumaged male.

O 'Auf, woe to thee ! what has emboldened thee to take possession of my troop of camels ? It was my custom from long ago to send them forth to feed far afield in thy direction.

By God ! were it not that the folk who owned them were all scattered far and wide — and the worst of things that a man can say is a lie ! —

I had sent in the direction of the cry for help the rushing of a multitude (?), and I had mounted a short-haired steed, spare and lithe like a palm-branch stripped of its leaves ;

And ye should have left my camels feeding peacefully — for I am one of those who drive away from my herds a host disappointed of their booty.

A goodly warrior is 'Auf when he clothes himself in his armour : and woe is me, the yoke-fellow of defeat !