1. My cousin’s son’s eye refused to sleep
By his tenderness, and he hugged with passion

2. Yet his wife asked: what of love is this?
It was but a look that was an infatuation

3. I turned my face from looking at her
And she cast down her gaze in coquetry

4. We both fear her father
And slander from her clan and blame

5. I saw her speaking to her two neighbors
So I neither admonished nor blamed

6. I saw a cloud in a high region
Rising over a cheek as black as pitch darkness

7. Its lightening illuminates the dark night
And you see her smile blossoming into a smile

8. An oriental perfume dripped from her radiance
As though its roots were vines of wine

9. A ruby complexion that a great one had set free
Who does not seek union without a seal

10. In his passion for her he forgot
Whenever he recalled drinks and boon companions

11. Her beauty outshines the virgins’ beauty
She has no need for a veil over her face

12. Rounded hips and slender waist,
Like the road’s curves, winding and rising

13. The lounger is infatuated by her
And the star penetrates forcefully

14. I blame her character that it should be
As though I come to conceal a concealment

15. That my head has turned grey surveying
The lands of war wrapped up in darkness

16. I break a mare and lead a long bodied steed
That fulfills the warrior’s belt

17. Whoever meets cavaliers everyday
Either spearing or clinging to them

18. Whenever worries would besiege me
To keep me up, I would devise for them a system

19. I do not withhold if destitute nor vow
Even if I am not left any means forever

20. I do not prepare her children from my wealth
For her progeny to grow, year by year

21. Rather, I say to her milkers,
Take the lead, my wealth has some life in it

22. I lend money to my cousin if he comes to me
And host the guest, the oldest in years

23. And the vicissitudes of time I have entered
That recall to me a life or dreams

24. And brothers I have been bereaved of
So I start the day complaining of conversation

25. I protect honesty everyday
While the Azd tribe protects my nose from humiliation

26. There are people whose neighbors feel safe amongst them
Like Mecca which no pigeons make impure

27. And when Mudhij approach altogether,
You see the bare bones of Mudhij

28. In Hamdan, there are warriors, if encountered
Make the opponent take flight scattering

29. And if I call on Kindah, ranks will come
With spears that make kings recoil

30. I have no friend apart from Khuza’ah
If girls go out followed by servants

31. And if Jibillah are present on a day of distress,
They expose my shoulders from the crowds (in battle)

32. My oath binds the two As’harites if they are called
Prevented by settlement to do injustice

33. And the Himirian steeds, as they start them, a fleet creature
Whose muzzles almost touch the clouds

34. The Ghassanids who ruled Ma’add
Their elite and those who pasture the wastelands

35. Do not abandon the Quda’a for verily amongst them
We have precedence and privilege

36. Meet with Hadramout at the advent of glory
The chosen ones at time of much sadness

37. Armaments that no tribe can enumerate
Whenever the morning caller calls to armaments

38. The people of Huma are workers
He who sees them sees biting swords and growlers

39. If I had established stable rule
And the onslaught abated, I would not have feared sins

40. Khaulan, who did not give (tribute) except
To the Prophet when he prayed and fasted

41. And Hā’, if you were to see them all together,
You would think all of the forests to be over them

42. Count two examples like you, O Ibn Nizar
And verily that came to me as sacred oath

43. You will not find kings in my progeny, Bin Nizar
Nor fathers like my glorious fathers

44. If the lands of war were asked about us
And about you, when we clashed, striking

45. You would know that your cunning is weak
And the army turned in retreat, retreating

46. Just as your groups would retreat
When they caught sight of a worn out sand hill

47. Our horses in every direction
Snatch opportunity like birds of prey snatch flesh

48. You see the bare swords when they are given
To race to the water holes and penetrate forcefully

49. And every she camel led to water that was sought after
Has enticed their warriors to love

50. I was a leader for a tribe amongst whom was ambition
Over the poets - I held the reins

51. He took risks for his tribe – perils
And he clothed his people in mean rags

52. He earned war against himself with harm
And they overlap, then sprout again completely

53. He tested good fortune, but met disfavor
It blazed, burning more and more

54. He left an open disgrace for his tribe
To be a branding mark on their noses

55. And his tribesmen said: No use came from him
Why did he cast our selves into misery

56. Threatening a man of composure
Of old spryness, who takes revenge, avenging

57. So what do poets want from me
Since I have divided between them judgment

58. I arbitrated a case regarding them, in which
The judgment was by which to judge, if they arbitrate