غَيْرَ أَنِّي قَدْ أَسْتَعِينُ عَلَى الْهَمِّ ۞ إِذَا خَفَّ بِالثَّوِيِّ النَّجَاءُ
Translation: Yet I seek help against sorrow when swift departure calls even to one accustomed to staying—by means of a fast mount.
Ghayra annī marks a new movement in the poem. Astaʿīnu ʿalā al-hamm is an attempt to meet grief by taking practical means; al-thawī denotes a resident or long-stayer and al-najāʾ swift travel.
The phrase is completed by bi-zafūfin in the next verse. Its force is not merely psychological: the poem now turns towards motion and the capacity of a riding animal.