1. Your eyes have lied to you, or did you see in Wasit,
The darkness of night slip the image of a beloved,

2. And she approached you with her flowing dress after,
She had parted with a lightning flash of her gathered garment and union,

3. And a female jinni crept out to frighten us,
While the singing slave-girls show you horrors,

4. Extending from their bosoms to the youth,
A cause with which the lost ones wander ceaselessly,

5. Never have I seen their cunning when it flows,
Among us nor their ropes as ropes,

6. Misleading those who are enamored with infatuation,
And good to those who say little,

7. They keep their promise to you as long as they see you as a witness,
And if you are humiliated, they readily abandon you,

8. And if they promise you attainment, they break it,
And you find only procrastination with them,

9. And if they invite you, their lineage,
Increases you in their eyes as a fool,

10. And if you weighed their hearts against the youth,
The youth would outweigh their hearts and incline,

11. Is it the sneering one from you or the mother of Muhallim,
Or the one who guides long in his guidance?

12. And you certainly knew when the pleasure seekers breathe,
The feet slip and they fall to the left,

13. They cast icicles with a night rain,
Until ice remains on the plains,

14. We hasten to slaughter the lamb for our guest,
Before the family, and kill the heroes,

15. Sons of Kulayb, my paternal uncle who,
Killed the kings and broke the shackles,

16. And their brother, the killer, who let his horses drink,
Until they reached the dogs' watering place dripping,

17. They come out against them from the dogs' den,
The beasts of prey rush forward into the plains,

18. Of every strong-bodied horse its leading reins slip
As it smoothly prances, acting haughtily,

19. And a red-striped horse whose mark from iron remains on its side,
As if there were a coat of mail over its flanks,

20. Driving away the warriors when they encounter battle,
Bending their thickset bodies,

21. Purebred smooth-bodied horses as if you clothed them,
With water when the spate dries up,

22. Rarely do they dawn except all bridled,
Riding the top of events in a state,

23. So they crushed the erring of kings with stirring up conflict,
Until their sandals were bloodstained from the blood,

24. And they proved true your people, O Jarir, and others,
And proved true from the concord of the flutes the lawful,

25. And they entered upon Shaqq the house of,
And they saw the anklet of Nadrah without blemish,

26. While the eyes of the sons of Gudanah peered,
Seeking men under their abdomens,

27. Bearing them off as she-dogs bear their pups,
Until they reached ruined dwellings and households,

28. Squint-eyed to the winds after,
They had made their spears give shade to the hyena,

29. And they left no noble horseman,
Except they broke his ankle bracelet,

30. And Hudhayl aimed at you the arrows so he attained you,
With a skillful shooting in which the booty is shared,

31. With warhorses gloomy of face as if,
From the work of carrion mingled in their lineage,

32. And they wheeled upon Fazarah with a flanking maneuver,
Turning away the wild ass and rolling on,

33. So they gave Adwan's confederates a bitter cup (to drink),
And removed the might of the sons of Hubab entirely,

34. Covering the shoulder of an exposed slain man,
While the son of the defeated they left humiliated,

35. So they killed those who bore arms and others,
And left their children dependent on you,

36. And Juhafah wept for what,
They had done to the Shar'abiyyah when he saw the children,

37. And, O Jarir, you have undertaken a matter beyond your capacity,
And you have seen the nakedness of your ignorant mother,

38. And if a branch of Mujashi' aimed for glory,
And the valley gathered against you flooding,

39. You were flotsam in the surge of a turbulent and frothing sea,
Which the current had cast, lost,

40. And they trod the Mount of Mercy so,
They cast mountains upon the mountains,

41. So take your sheep, O Jarir, away to pasture, for you,
Have deluded yourself in solitude, astray,

42. You have deluded yourself that you can rival Darim,
Or equal Hajob in his turban and his reason,

43. And if you placed your father in their balance,
His weighting pan would jump up empty to you,

44. Boasting and howling are for Darim,
While the simpleton is their brother the heavyweight,

45. They who keep back the water until they drink,
Its leftovers and portion it out contention,

46. And the son of Maraghah who holds back his camels,
Casting the strange women who taste no moisture,