1. Alas how often a day whose beginning
Was light, between acacias and smooth stones,

2. Is not praised when the encounter comes
Nor at a compact’s bond denied by the confederate;

3. The Quraysh say, “What neighbor did we plunder?” —
Yet the sandal thong of him who meets them is bloody from their violence;

4. You have tightened your bonds for the Khazraj, and eyes
Are sleepless, meant to be pressed by the hand, to the mouth.

5. O sons of Malik, the Farazdaq is regretful;
And who meets what the Farazdaq met will regret.

6. O sons of ‘Abdu ‘Amr, I am through with you,
And long has my chiding you been, if you would be warned.

7. Does it not restrain you that I shot Mijash‘a
With arrows that do not swerve from the notcher and the hotch?

8. Without the two sons of Lujaym the Ahizzan would be equal
Portions among my dividing arrows.

9. When our horses were galled by the mailcoats,
Their croups pressing their tails, we said to them, “Charge!”

10. Alas, how often a day whose beginning
Was joy, but others ended in woe.