31-32). Imr al-Qais employs touch, sight, scent, and even taste in his description to emphasize sensual gratification. He describes his horse as smelling like a bride and related his skin to a smooth stone used to break a colocynth, an Arabian cactus. There is an integration between Imr al-Qais himself and the nature around him, he is emotionally attached to the feelings of his horse. He experiences his horse's strength; if it is hurt in battle, the rider feels it in himself. As Imr al-Qais is splattered with blood so is his horse, garnished with a blood decoration not unlike Fatimah, adorned with henna. .
It seems characteristic of Imr al-Qais to use nature to describe his lovers, and use lovers to describe nature, this practice can be seen throughout the Mu'allaqat. .
The poem of Tarafa is unusual both in structure as well as in his description of his camel. Instead of taking time to express his grief over his lost love, Tarafa races through the nasib and immediately begins to describe his beast. In the first few lines Tarafa describes his camel: "Very firm her back broad the span of her swift legs, smooth her swinging gait; her forearms thrust slantwise up to the propped roof of her breast." (84.15-17) Tarafa's description reminds us of Imr Al-Qais' sensual portrayal of his horse, however it is not nearly as carnal in this passage. In later lines Tarafa's camel and lover become almost indistinguishable, as if Tarafa is using the image of his she-camel to mirror the vision of his former lover. Later on Tarafa succeeds in confusing the reader when describing his camel as having a "cheek (as) smooth as Syrian parchment her eyes are a pair of mirrors, sheltering in the caves of her brow bones, the rosk of a pool's hollow. (84.29-32).
These descriptions of Tarafa's she-camel are used as a literary vehicle to express love and bring power to the poem. This camel is also reminiscent of Labid's elegant rendering of the wild bull.