1. My body refused but to be healed of its malady
Regardless of my honor and discomfort, oh helpers!

2. I lost control over important affairs, for I was not
Fit to manage them, except for the pain of loss

3. And I swear if a man experienced what I did
He would spend the night in despair and dejection

4. Yet I am resilient in calamities, patient
With every disaster that brings distressing sorrows

5. So even if the heavens fell upon me, I wouldn't
Become downcast or despair or lose composure

6. I am forbearing even if no part of me remained
Dignified even if every encourager despaired

7. I am a steadfast mountain whose slopes
Withstand the torrents pouring heavily downhill

8. Oh how I wish I knew! Will my respite be spent
With a son of Nehd or reins held by a Jorasheep son?

9. Shall I seek murky water when thirsty wolves,
Surrounding it hungry all night, have muddied it?

10. Shall I drink deep the long spear though blood
Of entrails has heated it in every battle?

11. Shall I break the strong spear piercing the chests
Of foes at high noon in the raging, dusty fight?

12. Shall I rouse the noble steeds for a poet
Who has journeyed from the furthest city?

13. I grew weary lying atop the saddle of my camel
My body tired, o daughter of my tribe, of my bed!

14. Come, o daughter of my tribe, bring me my staff
My sword and spear with double edged blade

15. And tell my slave to spend the night awake
For it is time I hurled my spears at the oppressors

16. If I gained triumphs and my resolve was not weakened,
Nor my zeal to attain my hopes and aims deferred,

17. I shall wear the raiment of praise though every ruler
Wanders lost in a tattered and blameworthy gown

18. My generosity makes misers fold up
And my misery makes any generous man fold up

19. I am the warrior fatal in the tumult of battle
When the zealous heart of the warrior flames up

20. And though I may leave a courageous, armored man
Lying dead by a spear with smooth, bare shaft

21. While the vultures waddle slowly around him
Waddling like an old man in a striped cloak

22. And though I may leave women mourning
Bending over a bleeding corpse mutilated in death

23. And coats of mail whose seams my sword tore open
With a blow against the defender of truth most wondrous

24. And battles biting soldiers that I engaged
Ferociously so it said: “What a lethal contender!”

25. And horses like herds of wild goats that I scattered
With a blow making their skulls fly in every direction

26. So they fled like terrified ostriches, terrified
By the roaring of a growling lion bloody with gore

27. We are the sons of heaven’s rain – is there due us, then,
Anything we wear of robes of kings and honored glory?

28. Hud, Allah’s prophet, is my grandfather, and his son
Qahtan, trustworthy and protected, their offspring

29. Has any lineage gained repute like mine?
Any origin contained glory like my origin?

30. Are there in the world people like my people when
They identify with the noblest house in high Yemen?

31. For us is the mighty glory before which
Heads of all other men bow down in every assembly

32. To us belong the crowns, as is known
By Ma’add’s tribe, revered and of inaccessible camp

33. To us Allah revealed praise in His words
“Are they better or the people of Tubba’?”

34. If the Merciful created a people like my clan,
He would have brought them in an unassailable verse!

35. We are the kings of earth since Adam’s time
Superior, by God’s life, and unexcelled!

36. Possessors of all good, and magnificent kingdom,
A Yemeni throne, and jewel-studded crown.