they are good for naught against evil, however light it be;
They requite with forgiveness the wrong of those that do them wrong,
and the evil deeds of the evil they meet with kindness and love!
As though thy Lord had created among the sons of men
themselves alone to fear him, and never one man more.
Would that I had in their stead a folk who, when they ride forth,
strike swiftly and hard, on horse or on camel borne!
The ideal warrior, however, is not always so fierce as this, as may be seen in the following lament for a departed hero, where a gentler touch mingles in its warlike manliness:—
But know ye if Abdallah be gone, and his place a void?
no weakling, unsure of hand, and no holder-back was he!