He is one of the seven poets of the most celebrated anthology of ancient Arabic poetry, known as the Muʿallaqāt, however just one of his poems is included.

Fatigued and disgusted by the rigid ceremony of the court, he improvised a satire in which he said:- Shortly afterwards he happened to be seated at table opposite the king's sister.

Sending for Tarafa and Mutalammis, he granted them leave to visit their homes, and gave to each of them a sealed letter addressed to the governor of Bahrayn.

As neither he nor his companion could read, he handed his own letter to a boy of Hira and learned that it contained orders to bury him alive.

[3]While some of his poems have been translated into Latin with notes by B. Vandenhoff (Berlin, 1895),[5] both Tharafa and the poet Imru al-Qais were not included by Theodor Nöldeke in his Fünf Moallaqat, übersetzt und erklärt (Vienna, 1899-1901).