بني سوار إن رثت ثيابي — أبو شراعة

بَني سَوّارَ إِن رَثَت ثِيابي

وَكَلَّ عَنِ العَشيرَةِ فَضلُ مالي

Sons of Sawwār, if my clothes have grown threadbare,

And my surplus wealth has failed to sustain the clan,

فَمُطَّرَحٌ وَمَتروكٌ كَلامي

وَتَجفوني الأَقارِبُ وَالمَوالي

Then my words are cast aside and abandoned,

And my relatives and allies shun me.

أَلَم أًكٌ مِن سَراةِ بَني نُعَيمٍ

أَحُلُّ البَيتَ ذا العَمَدِ الطِوالِ

Was I not among the chiefs of Banū Nuʿaym,

Dwelling in the tent with tall poles?

وَحَولي كُلُّ أَصيَدَ تَغلَبِيٍّ

أَبِيُّ الضَيمِ مُشتَرَكُ النَوالِ

And around me was every proud man of Taghlib,

Scorning indignity, his bounty shared by all:

إِذا حَضَرَ الغَداءُ فَغَيرُ مُغنٍ

وَيُغني حينَ تَشتَجِرُ العَوالي

When the morning meal arrives, he is no help,

Yet he is of use when spearheads clash.

وَأَبقَوني فَلَستُ بِمُستَكينٍ

لِصاحِبِ ثَروَةٍ أُخرى اللَيالي

And they spared me, so I am not one to bow

To a man of wealth, even till the last of nights,

وَلا بِمُمَسِّحِ المُثرينَ كَيما

أُمَسِّحَ مِن طَعامِهِم سِبالي

Nor one to flatter the rich merely so

I may wipe their food from my moustache.

أَنا اِبنُ العَنبَرِيَّةِ أَزَّرَتني

إِزارَ المَكرُماتِ إِزارَ خالي

I am the son of the ʿAnbarī woman; she girded me

With the waistcloth of noble deeds—my maternal uncle's waistcloth.

فَإِن يَكُن الغِنى مَجداً فَإِنّي

سَأَدعو اللَهَ بِالرِزقِ الحَلالِ

So if wealth is glory, then I

Shall pray to God for lawful sustenance.