Page:The L-poem of the Arabs.djvu/25



And I twist my intestines about my inanition, as the yarns of a spinner are twisted when spun and laid.

And I lick up the dry dust of the earth, lest some pre tender to generosity should imagine in himself a superiority over me (by offering food).

And were it not for (my) shunning what might be blamed, there would not be found, to subsist on, a potable or edible thing, excepting with me.

But (I possess) an unyielding spirit, that will not be quiet with me under a wrong, save while I turn over (in my mind what to do).

And covetings turn not to giddiness my sobriety; nor am I seen inquisitively prying at the heels of occurrences (or, news).

And I become poor at times, and (then) rich. For verily, the entertainer of desire, who does not spare himself, obtains opulence.

And I am not a repiner in poverty, habitually parading (my need); nor an exulter, proudly assuming, under wealth.

And I go forth early, upon the most frugal fare; as the dun-coloured, lean-haunched (wolf) goes forth, which deserts direct, the one to the other.

He goes forth betimes, fasting; he questions the wind, hungrily; he traverses the outlets of the passes; and skulks along with hanging head and straddling steps.

Thon, when sustenance fails him, where he had sought to obtain it, he cries aloud ; and his fellows, lean also, respond;

Thin as laths, hoary-faced ones, who are, as it were, (from attenuation), so many gaming arrows shuffling about in the two hands of a distributer by lot of the joints of a slaughtered camel;

Or, (as though he were) an excited queen-bee, whose swarm the spatulae have roused up, thrust in (to their hive) by a honey-seeking hunter;