1. We settled, though homesickness overwhelmed,
I see no square like ours between the sands.

2. Oh how I love the valley we may see,
Within it, from all the tribes, sights and sounds!

3. Reproach not my heart if it melts with woe,
For sorrows have stirred a heart filled with dread.

4. Bestow, O Hind, generosity upon me,
Deny me what you wish after this if you please.

5. Hind cares not for my plea,
Nor the deceitful sleep of my anxious eyes.

6. My neighbor eyed me as I left my people,
He wanted to bid farewell to both Sulaymans.

7. You may doubt our parting after seeing
The doves cooing in the abode.

8. Like a cloud in the beloved homes that came near,
Then the morning breeze lifted it and it ascended.

9. If only the horses of the tribe on the day they bore
The mincing walk were still rapturous.

10. O Banu Malik, al-Farazdaq is unmatched,
A twisting serpent since he could first hiss.

11. I pelted Ibn Dhi'l-Kila with verses until I left him
Sitting, composing poetry with a trembling hand.

12. I blinded the eyes of Ghalib at his Kira
And turned from the prominent nose of al-Farazdaq the dock-nosed.

13. I stretched the spearheads toward him until I stabbed him,
The wounded dock-tailed one, bent with old age.

14. Your monkey grimaced when I snatched his heart,
And Ibn Wathil’s cheek became scarred.

15. The sons of the weasels did not boast, humbled,
By the one with might defending the forbidden den.

16. Would that I know what the humbled one says
As your hands left not the bow taut.

17. What visions turned back the humbled one
Exalting a poisoned arrowhead.

18. Beware, sometimes al-Farazdaq remains awake
At the burning embers leaving the face darkened.

19. And al-Makhzumi is often stripped
To awaken with eyes tearful and downcast.

20. He cannot bear the nights of Dhi'ad
Until the dawn shines radiantly.

21. I left you the two Qain, O humbled one,
Who do not take half a goatskin, even shared.

22. They found me, when our bonds were extended,
A fierce defender, refusing to yield.

23. I am the brother of war, ignited
When it bore the excellent away angrily.

24. I surpassed those before me and left
No achievement in poetry for those after me.

25. Bishr lamented and the echo informed him,
What prevents echoes from lamenting as well?

26. Zaig will leave the in-laws of the humbled one
And Zaig will prevent what he wanted to prevent.

27. Do I compare Mas’ud, Qais and Khalid
To the intelligentsia of Layla’s time? I see no comparison.

28. When you were deceived by noble folk
You were cursed and narrowed by the generous.

29. If they did not meet the people of Hadra'
The shame of Qain would have spread.

30. Qain saw the two sisters of Shan'a
Return from war grim and burnt.

31. The riders of Qain despaired
Moving the iron of Qain bitterly and shamefully.

32. Without Allah's deliverance, Hadra' would have been
Dragged to the evil of crooked plowing and sowing.

33. Defiled, she was cleansed of his company,
And he turned to the evil of beds, bedded.

34. Humaidah was al-Farazdaq's neighbor,
He socialized at her abode and with the docked-one.

35. I will mention what you did not at Minaqar
And will expose from Humaidah what is uglier.

36. The disciples of the Prophet called you, but you were
Devils, O wooden crosses embellished!

37. A misleading neighbor fooled you,
His sword held high, his hands not retracting.

38. Ibn Dhi'al's son altogether came to you
While you were counting scattered sheep.

39. You count killing the Prophet as your best effort,
O Banu Dawtarah, don the concealers!

40. You cry over the past before you, tearfully,
Though if you cry, your eyes pour no tears.

41. By your life, the lords of the humbled one were not generous
Nor the rulers of Dabba concealed.

42. Do I compare Yarbu'a, the effeminate humbled one,
To Iyad of Arwah when shaken?

43. Yarbu'a will meet the power of Iyad
And glory that refused the pulling of pegs.

44. They are the people, had az-Zubair sought their night camp,
He would not have spent the night anxious and hopeful.

45. The people know our Indian swords
Broke the iron of white swords until they cracked.

46. Oh how many tyrants who had prestige
We served the cup of death until they were stained!

47. Coins guided horses never led by the humbled one
To see and hear the excellent chief's place of death.

48. We confronted Bishr and he was thrown in battle,
His saddle slipping until it rattled.

49. Hani' called Bakr who bit Hani'
The fetters of shame summer and winter.

50. We crowned for Ibn Kabshah his crown
And he met a horseman in the group's embrace.

51. We cracked the iron for Qabus son of Munthir
And Hassan when he cannot deflect disgrace.

52. One day our horses' hooves made
A pathway for the eminent crowned one's death place.

53. Al-Hirmas experienced our swords
Splitting the ram leader's head until it cracked.

54. We supported Bahira who contained
The striking of the five-headed serpent.

55. He saw with his own eyes the strongest company,
The shrieking winds and the shaking banner.

56. Our horsemen call not 'oh there' of the humbled one
If the day has inauspicious stars.

57. Among us is he who wore down Sudais ibn Malik
And startled the birds from Ju'adah's abode.

58. Leave your blaming Ju'adah, we only
Reached him when he met Ibn Bibah the docked one.

59. We struck the pillar of silence and loud did
The beetle lament the parting's link.

60. Is it your horses or mine in Balqa that won
The pillars of the noble tribe's throne to shake?

61. If our horses witnessed the day of Waqitain,
The captives would not have woken to shackles and misery.

62. We rode as lords behind and they were shaded,
By the perfect litters the excellent banners.

63. Those are achievements the humbled one did not attain,
You were preceded, so do not despair of death in anguish.