رمتك فلم تشو الفؤاد جنوب

وما كل من يرمي الفؤاد يصيب

Janub shot at you and did not miss your heart.

And not everyone who shoots at the heart hits it.

وما زودتنا غير ان خلطت لنا

أحاديث منها صادق وكذوب

And she gave us no provision except that she mingled for us

tales—some true and some false.

الا مبلغ فتيان مرّةَ انه

هجانا ابن برصاء اليدين سبيب

Will someone tell the young men of Murrah that

Sabib, son of the woman with white-blotched hands, has lampooned us?

وفي آل عوف من يهود قبيلة

تشابهَ منها ناشئون وشيب

And among the clan of Awf is a tribe of Jews,

whose youths and graybeards resemble one another.

أبي كان خيرا من أبيك ولم يزل

جنيباً لآبائي وأنت جنيبُ

My father was better than your father, who always remained

a follower of my forefathers; and you too are a follower.

وما زلت خيراً منك مذ عض كارها

برأسك عادي النجاد رسوبُ

And I have been better than you ever since, reluctantly,

a deep-cutting sword with an ancient baldric bit into your head.

فما ذنبنا أنأم حمزة جاورت

بيثرب أتياساً لهن نبيبُ

So what fault is ours that Hamzah's mother lived beside

bleating he-goats in Yathrib,

وأن رجالاً بين سلع وواقم

لأير ابيهم في أبيك نصيبُ

and that there are men between Salʿ and Waqim

whose father's cock has a share in your father?

فلو كنت عوفيا عميت فأسهلت

كداك ولكن المريب مريب

Had you been an Awfi, you would have turned a blind eye and smoothed

your rocky ground; but the suspect remains suspect.

دعانا شبيب بالسرية دعوة

فقام له بالحرتين مجيب

Shabib called out to us at al-Sariyyah,

so at the two lava fields one rose to answer him.