1. The mixed tribes differ in their origins and dawns
And you think it would be easy for you among them

2. Passion exposes itself and its desires intensify
Seeking from you conscience, but leaving none remaining

3. The passions have certainly cast their arrows at his heart
Until they left nothing in his hearing but reverence

4. Some whites whom luxury has nurtured and who live a life
Like the fringe of a cloak, softly billowing

5. They denied your alliance after knowing it well
Though they used to converse with you often before

6. And they saw a garment of cheer you clothed
So they shunned you and felt aversion

7. If only our youth would return as it was before
For it can transform sorrow into joy

8. You wept the long night unable to sleep
The night of perfection, though it may be brief

9. Do you hope, my two friends, for the comfort I seek
Or do you expect what has come to languish?

10. Ju'adah said: Why is your body so pale
When you could match the youth in vigor?

11. I said: Still some care keeps wounding me
Now enervating, now vigilant and early rising

12. Until I am worn out, though you don't know my concerns
And I see that to change you is most beneficial

13. Are you not surprised at Fate and its caprice?
As Time generates surprises in affairs

14. The libertines said: Why are you still ignorant
After the Parting went grey and donned felt?

15. I saluted Zawra falsely when she suffered
Though Hind would not visit the outer dwellings falsely

16. Nawahil came cloaked—the love sickened them
They crept on their arms repeatedly drawing aside their cloaks

17. The strain of love tore their flesh along with the cloaks
Until they went buzzing like flies, shorn of their breasts

18. The greater the distance of the barrens from each Ju’sha
The bolder and more coquettish she became

19. Her skinny mount rattled her bones bringing out
From them a swift she-camel and an early riser

20. With the smooth sticks she flicked off her mount's spittle
Flicking like an ostrich flicking its braided tail

21. My friend, the shelters are near, so travel by night
Not like evening, as a visitor and lodger

22. Al-Ukhytil was found when scorn made him a hollow cane
Barely held together by the resolve of his steed

23. And Al-Farazdaq cried out to Al-Ukhytil saying:
So they contested the polished swords of mighty heroes

24. No Arab has led against me a steed
But that I left the steed confounded

25. The galloping of racers left me tested
At critical moments, sustenance comes with good tidings

26. When I shake the reins, I cut every firm bond
And go, neither innate disposition nor confounded

27. Truly when I am aggressive, the mountains themselves peer
To meet me, and you will find no easy ascent

28. Their seas, having extended seas from seas
You cannot cut off a sea with other seas issuing from it

29. We who levy the jizya tax on Christians
And guidance for those who follow the Book and the Light

30. We are preferred in this life, and our lives
Rule over those who enter the tombs as tombs

31. God has favored us and disgraced the Banu Taghlib—
You will not be able do anything against what He has decreed

32. Ours are the mosques and the imam, while you see
No frequented mosque in the settlements of Taghlib

33. You will find, if the generous assemble in an abode
The nobles of Taghlib begging and hirelings

34. Truly, if Al-Ukhytil were to vie with Khindif
He would meet there disgrace and belittlement

35. And if curses upon Qays arise, they silence them
Rough-haired coats of mail like bells and wild cows

36. Though you dispatch against the will of Taghlib
In every stance making you a commander

37. Will you be pious with the cross and Mar Sargis
Fearing a fiery she-camel with striding shoulder blades?

38. You eyed the brand of shame blazing as if it were
A bird circling in the thickets and canyons

39. The steed fled, and we have judged for Taghlib's sake
A judgment never to be undone or vowed

40. You submitted Ahmar and Ibn Abdi Muharraq
And you were found on that day galloping in fright

41. When Ukhytil gives you a blow, O Farazdaq
After it your bones will not again be mended

42. So if you hear of Qays' war after this
Lay down your weapons and make a full atonement

43. They left Shu'ayth b. Mulayl a Muslim
And the Shuthamiyin, and they surrendered the Shu'rur

44. And the pell-mell rout of the K'ub was blocked
As if it were a dam opposing a flood of rolling pebbles

45. It was as if when they met our horses, Taghlib were
Ruined settlements that met predatory birds of prey

46. We are truthful in what we said to you
While your words, O Farazdaq, are lies

47. Cursed by God are the women of Taghlib
Who lift the lower parts of their robes with immoral hands

48. Those who take Mar Sargis for their pilgrimage
While the Hajj pilgrims multiply their declarations of God’s unity

49. On each scowling woman you see a rough mantle
Turning and flipping up the cloak violently

50. It is as if the locusts had spat their saliva on her face
Which shows neither beauty nor care

51. Al-Ukhytil found his mother drunk—
Shame! Drinking wine like the intoxicated

52. Not once since her eyeteeth were formed
Did the water of a toothstick touch her, nor did she perform ablution

53. For Ashhab a domesticated pig mated
With a sow, begetting pigs for them!