1. They say Ziyad was asleep in the raging battle,
Had they brought him in wrath, he'd prevent them, or a glorious knight, or unyielding.

2. But they brought a fool whose seventy years had passed,
Who wakes every morn debased and despicable.

3. His tongue foreign, if he came near, he cared not for honor.
I never found Abdel Qais except worthless

4. When people recall the exalted and the glorious.
If you're the slave's neighbor, don't cease to beware of him

5. When he's fed. A people counting nets for their neighbor
When sated with the rulers' dirhams.

6. With nets they pay the rights upon them
And give their lord when he is in debt.

7. They have a bray, and if they respond to each other
You hear in them a roar and madness.

8. By your life, Ibn Zarwan did not save
Rabi'ah from me the day he was unharmed.

9. I reckon the wicked son of two wicked men thought
I would surrender my honor or fear confrontation.

10. By your life, Rabi'ah does not bow to pilgrims
When they implore the aid of foreigners.