1. أَلا يا قومُ ما للدهْرِ عِندي

    لأَسَرَفَ في الإسَاءَةِ والتعدِّي

    Ah, my people, what does Time want with me?

    It has gone too far in cruelty and aggression.

  2. تَخَرَّمَ أُسْرتي فَبَقيْتُ فَرْداً

    أُبَارِزُ نَائِبَاتِ الدَّهْرِ وَحْدِي

    It cut down my family, leaving me alone,

    to duel single-handed with Time's calamities.

  3. وكَرَّ على ذَوِي ودِّي فأورَى

    بفقدِهِمُ من الأَحْزَانِ زَنْدِي

    It charged at those I loved, and kindled

    through their loss my firestick of sorrow.

  4. فما خُلِقَتْ لِدَمْعٍ غَيرُ عَيني

    ولا مَجْرًى لِدَمعٍ غَيرُ خَدِّي

    So no eye but mine was made for tears,

    nor any channel for tears but my cheek.

  5. لَوَ انَّ الدهرَ حينَ أبادَ رَهْطي

    وقعقعَ من مَبَانِي العزِّ عُمْدي

    If only Time, when it destroyed my kin,

    and rattled loose my pillars from the edifices of honor,

  6. وأفنَى الغُرَّ من سَرَوَاتِ قَومي

    وثَنَّى بعد ذَاكَ بأهلِ وِدِّي

    and wiped out the illustrious nobles of my people,

    then turned next upon those I loved,

  7. تدارَكني فأوفَدني عليهِمْ

    لأَحْسَنَ حيثُ سَاءَ وكان سَعْدِي

    had overtaken me and sent me to join them,

    it would have done good where it did harm, and been my good fortune.

  8. إذَا استعْظمتُ فَقْدَ أَخٍ كَرِيمٍ

    رَمَاني من أَخٍ ثَانٍ بِفَقْدِ

    Whenever I deem the loss of a noble brother grievous,

    it strikes me with the loss of a second brother.

  9. فَمَنْ لي أَنْ أَموتَ أمَامَ خِلٍّ

    تُعَزِّيهِ الأنامُ عَلَيَّ بَعْدي

    Who will grant me that I die before a friend

    whom people console for my loss after I am gone?

  10. وكنتُ لا ألوذُ بمُستَغَاثٍ

    وإن ثَلَمَتْ يدُ الأَيَّامِ حَدِّي

    I used to seek refuge in no rescuer,

    even when the hand of days chipped my edge.

  11. أَليجُ من الحِمامِ على حَميمي

    وجدتُ فكدتُ أرْحَمُ منه ضِدِّي

    Relentless pressure from death upon my dear one

    I found; so I almost pitied even my enemy because of it.

  12. فَمَنْ شَمَخَ الإِبَاءُ به وألغَى

    مَقَالَ الناسِ هل مُعْدٍ فيُعدي

    One whom proud refusal raised high, who dismissed

    people's cry, 'Is there a champion to grant redress?'—

  13. فَهَا أَنَذَا على أيامِ دَهْري

    قد استعديتُ لو أَلفيتُ مُعْدي

    here I am, confronting the days of my lifetime,

    appealing for redress—if only I could find a champion.

  14. ومِمَّا غَادرَ الأجفانَ سَكْرَى

    بأدمعِهِنَّ كالقَرْحِ المُمَدِّ

    Among what left the eyelids drunken

    with their tears, like a suppurating wound,

  15. وأورَدَني حِيَاضَ الهمِّ حتَّى

    صدرتُ وهَمُّ أهلِ الأرضِ عِندي

    and brought me to sorrow's watering pools, until

    I returned bearing the sorrow of all earth's people,

  16. مَصائبُ هَانَ عند الناسِ فيها

    عظيمُ الرُزءِ من مالٍ ووُلْدِ

    were calamities beside which people deemed slight

    the greatest losses of wealth and children.

  17. أناختْ بَرْكَها ببَنِي عَلِيٍّ

    نُزُولَ أخِي قِرىً فيهِمْ ورِفْدِ

    They made their camel herd kneel among the sons of Ali,

    as a guest would lodge there for hospitality and bounty.

  18. قَرَوْهُنَّ النفوسَ وليس شيءٌ

    أَعزَّ من النفوسِ قِرىً لوَفْدِ

    They feasted them on their souls, and nothing

    is dearer than souls as hospitality for guests.

  19. فأضْحَوا بعد جَمْعِهِمُ فُرَادَى

    كما نَثَرَتْ يدٌ خَرَزَاتِ عِقْدِ

    So, after their gathering, they became scattered individuals,

    as a hand scatters the beads of a necklace.

  20. فيا لِلّهِ ما رَمَتِ الليالي

    بهِ الساداتُ من سَلَفَيْ مَعَدِّ

    O God, what the nights have hurled

    upon the lords of Ma'add's two ancestral lines!

  21. تخوَّنَ جَمْعَهُمْ مَيتٌ فَمَيْتٌ

    يُسَارُ بِهِ إلى لَحْدٍ فَلَحْدِ

    Their gathering dwindled, one dead man after another

    being carried to one grave after another.

  22. يُعيدُ مَسَاءَ يومِهِمُ عليهِمْ

    جَوَى ثَكْلٍ له الإصباحُ يُبْدِي

    Each day's evening renews for them

    the burning grief of bereavement that morning unveils.

  23. سَقَى الأجداثَ شَرقيَّ المُصَلَّى

    وإن رُفِعَتْ إلى جنَّاتِ خُلْدِ

    May the graves east of the prayer ground be watered—

    though they have been raised to gardens of eternity—

  24. حَياً متَهزِّمُ الأَطْبَاءِ إنْ لم

    يكنْ دَمْعِي على الأجْداثِ يُجْدِي

    by rain whose udders burst, if

    my tears can do the graves no good.

  25. وجَرَّ بِها نسيمُ الريحِ ذَيْلاً

    يَمُرُّ بهِ على بَانٍ ورَنْدِ

    And may the breeze trail a skirt across them,

    passing with it over ban and rand trees.

  26. فكمْ حَمَلَتْ إلى ساحاتِها مِنْ

    قَناً خَطِّيَةٍ وسُيُوفِ هِنْدِ

    How many have been borne into their precincts:

    Khatti spears and swords of India—

  27. كُهُولٌ كالرِّمَاحِ اللُّدْنِ شِيْبٌ

    وأَغلمةٌ كَبِيْضِ الهِنْدِ مُرْدِ

    gray-haired men in their prime, like supple spears,

    and beardless youths, like bright Indian blades;

  28. وكلُّ كَرِيمَةِ الأَبَوَيْنِ ليستْ

    كهندٍ في النِّسَاءِ ولا كَدَعْدِ

    and every woman noble on both parents' sides, not

    like Hind among women, nor like Da'd,

  29. عفيفةُ ما يُكِنُّ الخِدْرُ ملء الْ

    مُلاَءَةِ مِن صَلاَحةِ بَلْهَ زُهْدِ

    chaste in all the curtained chamber hides, filling the

    wrap with righteousness, not to mention ascetic piety.

  30. ولا مِثْلُ التي بالأَمْسِ أودتْ

    طَهَارَةَ مَوْلِدٍ وسُمُوَّ جَدِّ

    Nor any like the woman who died yesterday,

    in purity of birth and loftiness of ancestry.

  31. قضَتْ نَحْباً على آثَارِ أُخْرَى

    تَوَافِيَ سَاعِيَيْن مَعاً لِوَعْدِ

    She met her death in another woman's footsteps,

    like two hastening travelers arriving together for an appointment.

  32. هُمَا لأَبٍ إذَا اعْتُزِيَا وأُمٍّ

    رُجُوعَ القِدَّتَينِ معاً لِجِلْدِ

    When their lineage is traced, they share a father and mother,

    as two cut strips return together to one hide.

  33. فيا لكريمتَي حَسَبٍ ودِيْنٍ

    ويا لعَقِيلَتي شَرَفٍ ومَجْدِ

    O the two noble women of lineage and faith!

    And O the two prized ladies of honor and glory!

  34. كلا رُزْأَيْهِمَا نَارٌ فَهَذَا

    لَظَى قلبٍ وذَاكَ حَرِيقُ كِبْدِ

    Each of their two losses is fire: this one

    a heart's blaze, that one a liver's burning.

  35. ونَالَ الصهرُ ثالثةً فأودتْ

    خِلالَهما كأنَّ الرزءَ يُعْدِي

    Kinship by marriage embraced a third, and she died

    between the two, as though bereavement were contagious.

  36. ثلاثٌ ما سَمَتْ علياءُ بَيْتٍ

    بِغَوْرٍ في مَنَاكِبِها ونَجْدِ

    Three women: no household's eminence has ever risen,

    in the regions of Ghawr or Najd,

  37. على مَثَلٍ لَهُنَّ تُقىً ودِيناً

    وطِيبَ مَغَارسٍ ووُفُورَ رُشْدِ

    upon women like them in piety and faith,

    nobility of roots and fullness of wisdom.

  38. أولئِكَ خَيرُ مَنْ وَارَاهُ سِتْرٌ

    وأكرمُ من سَحَبْنَ فُضُولَ بُرْدِ

    They are the best of all whom a curtain concealed,

    and the noblest women who trailed the hems of robes.

  39. نَزَلْنَ من النَّباهَةِ في مَكَانٍ

    يُميّزُهُنَّ عن نُعْمٍ وهندِ

    They occupied a station of distinction

    that set them apart from Nu'm and Hind.

  40. بناتُ أُبوَّةٍ ليستْ كبَكْرٍ

    إذا عُدَّ الرجالُ ولا كَسَعْدِ

    Daughters of a paternal line unlike Bakr's,

    when men are reckoned, nor like Sa'd's.

  41. سَجَاياها إذَا ذُمَّ السَّجَايَا

    ضَوَاربُ دُونَ غِيبتِها بِسَدِّ

    Its virtues, when virtues are condemned,

    erect a barrier against slandering it.

  42. حَرَائِرُ ما أَغَرْنَ الدهرَ بَعْلاً

    بجرسِ حُلِيْ ولا تكليمِ عَبْدِ

    Freeborn ladies who never made a husband jealous

    by the jingle of jewelry or by speaking to a slave.

  43. أَلِفْنَ بيوتَهُنَّ عُكُوفَ طَيْرٍ

    على مُسْتَودَعَاتِ الوَكْرِ رُبْدِ

    They kept to their homes like birds intent

    on their nests' entrusted charges, dusky-feathered.

  44. فلم يعرفْنَ غيرَ البيتِ دَاراً

    سِوَى لحدٍ سَكَنَّ بِهِ ومَهْدِ

    They knew no abode other than home,

    save the grave they inhabited and their cradle.

  45. أما لو كنَّ للعَرَبِ المواضي

    وقد نَظَروا البناتِ بعَينِ زُهْدِ

    Had they belonged to the Arabs of old,

    who looked upon daughters with disdain,

  46. إذن كَرُمَتْ بناتُهُمُ عليهِمْ

    وما أَوْدَتْ لهم أُنثَى بِوَأْدِ

    their daughters would then have been dear to them,

    and no girl of theirs would have died by being buried alive.

  47. أَمَا لو كَانَ غَيرُ الموتِ مُدَّتْ

    يَدَاهُ لَهنَّ والآجالُ تُرْدِي

    Ah, had it been anything but death that stretched out

    its hands toward them—but appointed ends strike down—

  48. لكادتْ أن تسوخَ الأرضُ ممّا

    تَظَلُّ بها جيادُ الخيلِ تُرْدِي

    the earth would almost have sunk from the way

    noble steeds would keep galloping upon it,

  49. عليها الشُّوسُ منْ عُلْيا قُرَيشٍ

    أُولي النَّجَداتِ والعَزْمِ الأَشَدِّ

    with fierce warriors of Quraysh's highest ranks astride,

    possessors of great valor and the strongest resolve.

  50. إذا استصرختَهم وَافُوكَ غَضْبَى

    كما هَجْهَجْتَ في غاباتِ أُسْدِ

    When you cry to them for aid, they come to you in anger,

    as though you had shouted in lion-haunted thickets,

  51. بِكُلِّ مُثَقَّفِ الأُنْبُوبِ لَدْنِ الْ

    مَهَزِّ وكلِّ مَصْقُولِ الفِرَنْدِ

    with every straight-shafted spear, supple in its

    sway, and every blade with polished watered markings.

  52. كأنَّكَ تَسْتكِفُّ الخَطْبَ مِنْهُمْ

    بِذِي الرُّمْحَينِ أَو عَمرو بنِ وُدِّ

    It is as though, through them, you ward off disaster

    with Dhu al-Rumhayn, or Amr ibn Wudd.

  53. بني عبدالرءوفِ وكلُّ حيٍّ

    لِمصرعِهِ أخو سَيْرٍ مُجِدِّ

    O sons of Abd al-Ra'uf, every living being

    is a traveler hastening toward his death.

  54. عَزَاؤكُمُ فأوفَى النَّاسِ أَجْراً

    أَخُو ضَرَّاءَ قابَلَها بِحَمْدِ

    Take consolation: the fullest reward among people belongs

    to the sufferer who meets hardship with praise.

  55. فِدَاكُمْ من يكاثرُكُمْ ويُخْفِي

    لَكُمْ تحتَ الضُّلُوعِ غَلِيلَ حِقْدِ

    May those who vie with you be your ransom, who conceal

    beneath their ribs a burning hatred for you.

  56. أُنبِّئُكُمْ وما في ذَاكَ بأسٌ

    فَهَذَا الناسُ من هَادٍ ومَهْدِي

    I tell you—and there is no harm in this,

    for people include both guides and those who are guided—

  57. بِأَنِّي خَيرُ من أَرعَيتُمُوهُ

    لَكُمْ وِدّاً وأَوفَاهُ بِعَهْدِ

    that I am the best of those you have entrusted

    with affection for you, and the most faithful to a covenant.

  58. فقد جَرَّبتُمُ الإخوانَ غَيري

    وأكثرتُمْ فَهَلْ سَدُّوا مَسَدِّي

    You have tried brothers other than me,

    and many of them; have they filled my place?

  59. فلا تتمسَّكُوا بِحِبالِ غَيرِي

    وإنْ ما استمسكُوا بِعُرَى مُوِدِّ

    So do not cling to anyone's ropes but mine,

    even if they cling to a loving friend's bonds.

  60. ودونَكُمُ بلا مَنٍّ عليكمْ

    ثَنَاءَ مُبَرَّزٍ في النظمِ فَرْدِ

    And take, without any claim of favor upon you,

    the praise of a peerless master of verse.

  61. يُجيدُ الحفرَ عن ماءِ المَعَاني

    فَيُنْبِطُهُ وحَفْرُ الناسِ يُكدِي

    He excels at digging for the water of meanings,

    and draws it out, while others' digging strikes barren rock.

  62. تُشَاركُنِي الورَى في الشِّعْرِ دَعْوَى

    على أَنِّي المَبَرَّزُ فيهِ وحدِي

    Others claim to share with me the art of poetry,

    though I alone am preeminent in it.