1. How ugly is he whose land is too narrow for him,
Yet the expanse of the tent is spacious for him in length and width.

2. And its darkness does not obstruct his running in it,
If a man does not stain his honor with baseness,

3. Then every cloak he wears is beautiful.
If a man does not veil his eyes from their sleep,

4. And does not betray his precious soul,
His glories are wasted, and his faults are safe from blame,

5. If he does not burden his soul with injustice,
Then there is no way to good praise.

6. And a band of traitors our ancestors subdued,
So they spent the night defeated by us, our opponents and enviers.

7. When they are powerless to plot evil against us,
They taunt us for our small numbers.

8. So I said to them, “The noble ones are few.”
We have raised our abode to the high heavens,

9. So no king sits except in our shade.
The army of the multitudes fears our few,

10. And our remaining numbers are never diminished,
Youth aspiring to the heights, and elders

11. Like mountains firmly anchored, our prestige equals the stars.
Our house is built at the crest of the galaxy,

12. And our neighbors are safe from the ravages of time.
It does not harm us that we are few, while our neighbors are many.

13. The mighty one's neighbor is the abject one.
When we gained control of Damascus, its affairs

14. Became ours, its king and emir loves us.
And at the lofty Nayrab, whose peak is invincible,

15. We have a mountain held by whoever neighs at it,
Impregnable, repelling all gazes, yet gentle.

16. It shows you the Pleiades through its crevices,
And the horizon's stars gaze at its slopes.

17. The step of clouds stumbles before reaching its peak,
Its roots delved into the earth, and it ascended to the stars,

18. A branch none can attain, however tall.
A palace overlooking the blond sands overflowing with its rivers,

19. Surpassing in its pride the stars' pomp.
Its generosity is well-known across the land,

20. It is the unique, unmatched one, whose fame has spread.
He covets it in vain who desires it, for it is unassailable.

21. When we get angry in our quest for glory,
To take revenge or reach high rank,

22. We increase, on the morrow of war, our desire for death.
We are a people who do not see killing as disgrace

23. When viewed by someone sheltered or tested.
The meeting of wars destroyed our men,

24. And the enemy lived when they were weary of fighting us.
For when the aggressors wanted to engage us,

25. The love of death brought our ends nearer to us,
While their lifespans lengthened and pulled away.

26. Among us is the one who returns the lion to his clenching grip,
And makes it drink the cup of death when captive.

27. Among us is the annihilator of thousands in a day of marching,
None of our masters died except by his own misstep,

28. Nor did any go astray on the day he fell dead.
When our neighbor and companion feared harm,

29. Our wealth and heads were sacrificed before his.
And if the fires of events stirred up our hotheads,

30. Our souls would flow at the edge of the swords—
They do not flow except at the swords' edges.

31. The enemies benefited from us at times, and harmed us at others.
We never made peace with them, though they embittered us.

32. Since they sought to divide our ranks, we kept apart from them,
Keeping our ranks pure, our affairs unsullied.

33. Good carriers of a worthy burden, and stalwarts.
The noble ones fulfilled our rightful share of glory,

34. And never broke the rules of noble lineage.
Since they tried in the battleground of honor, we ascended

35. To the best of appearances, and alighted in the best of abodes,
For a time, descending to the best of wombs.

36. Our enemies acknowledge us based on our lineage,
And fear the calamities of fate upon our separation.

37. The hands of the lofty were judicious in choosing us.
We are the protectors, none among us are miserly.

38. We are bountiful, not a stingy one among us.
We help the people of the world, and bear their burdens,

39. As our days of glory are equal to their seasons.
We have a people so tall, the clouds envy their height.

40. We disavow if the people say anything improper,
And they do not disavow our words when we speak.

41. Our elders by their efforts aided the kings,
And by our efforts the house of the noble is erected.

42. One of us empowered in authority is always replaced by another,
A speaker of what the honorable have enacted and done,

43. We preceded all the predecessors to the glory of highness.
Our generosity encompassed every supplicant and striver.

44. So how many fires of hypocrisy have died down in their dwellings?
No fire of ours was ever extinguished without a lighter,

45. Nor did we blame those who lodged with us.
We ascended to the star’s position, below our ascent,

46. And the enemies' envy fell short of our supremacy.
So what pleases the opponent on the day we treat him equally?

47. Our days are renowned among our foes,
Known exploits and mature men.

48. We have the day of the outsider's war and victory,
The routs which made the courageous lions recoil.

49. Our reputations, after valor and Arabism,
And our swords in every east and west

50. With them we made the heavily armed remains recoil.
We destroyed the enemies when their deeds went awry,

51. So their plots and punishments recoiled upon them.
Bare blades unsheathed amid the dark of night,

52. Habituated never to be sheathed,
Until it is licensed to plunder the tribe.

53. They degraded the stature of those who did not debase them,
And betrayed those who did not betray them at the break of peace.

54. So if you wish to know the situation with us and them,
Ask, if you do not know people's views of us and them,

55. For the knowledgeable and the ignorant are not equal.
If the enemies slander my honor with their poison,

56. How much have they been forbearing of me in their hate?
And if they become leaders of their people’s sons in the morning,

57. The Bani Rayyan are leaders of their people,
Fortunes revolve around them constantly.

58. If the enemies breach my honor with their disgrace,
They have often shown forbearance towards me at their rest.