1. أَهاشمُ تَيمٌ جلَّ منكِ ارتكابُها

    حرامٌ بغير المُرهفاتِ عتابُها

    O Hashim, Taym's offense against you has grown grave.

    Rebuking her is forbidden, save with keen-edged swords.

  2. هي القُرحةُ الأُولى التي مضَّ داؤها

    بأحشاكِ حتَّى ليس يبرى انشعابُها

    She is the first ulcer, whose sickness tormented

    your entrails, till its spreading could no longer heal.

  3. لقد أوجعتْ منكِ القلوبَ بلسعِها

    عقاربُ ضِغن أعقبَتها دبابها

    Indeed, your hearts have been hurt by the stinging

    of scorpions of rancor, followed by her creeping creatures.

  4. إلى الآن يَبرى سمُّها منكِ مهجةً

    بإبرتِها قد شُقَّ عنها حِجابها

    Even now her poison gnaws at a heart within you,

    whose veil has already been split by her stinger.

  5. كأن لم يكن ضدًّا سواه مقاوِماً

    حياتَكِ مقصوراً عليها ذِهابُها

    As though no adversary but it opposed

    your life, with her course bent on that alone.

  6. لها الغدرُ لم تسلَم لباري نفوسِها

    فتُلوى لمن وُلي عليها رِقابها

    Treachery is hers; she never submitted to the Maker of her souls,

    so that her necks might bend to the one appointed over her.

  7. ولا صدَّقت يوماً بما في كتابِه

    فتخشى الذي يَحصي عليها كتابُها

    Nor did she ever believe what is in His Book,

    and so fear what her record tallies against her.

  8. ولا آمنتْ باللهِ لم يغدُ في الورى

    بإِمرةِ مولى المُؤمنين خِطابها

    Nor did she believe in God; among mankind there never came

    her acknowledgment of the rule of the believers' master.

  9. علتْ فوق أعوادِ الرسول لبيعةٍ

    بها مِن ثقيل الوزر طال احتقابها

    She rose above the Messenger's wooden pulpit for a pledge

    through which she long bore the heavy burden of sin.

  10. تُقلِّب بين المسلمين أناملاً

    تُريكَ عن الإِسلام كيف انقلابُها

    She turns her fingers among the Muslims,

    showing you how she turns away from Islam.

  11. أعدْ نظراً نحو الخلافة أيّما

    أحقُّ بأن تضفو عليه ثيابها

    Look again toward the caliphate: which one

    is more entitled to have its robes drape over him?

  12. أَمن هو نفسٌ للنبي أم التي

    له كان داءاً سِلمُها واقترابها

    Is it he who is the Prophet's very self, or she

    whose peace and closeness were a sickness to him?

  13. ومن دحرجَ الأعداءَ عنه أم التي

    له دُحرجت تحتَ الظلامِ دُبابُها

    And he who drove the enemies away from him, or she

    whose engines were rolled against him beneath the darkness?

  14. يقولون بالإِجماع وُلِّي أمرها

    ضئيلُ بني تيم ليُنفى ارتيابها

    They say that, by consensus, her affairs were entrusted

    to the puny man of the sons of Taym, to banish her doubt.

  15. وهل مَدخلاً للرُشد أبقى وفيه مِن

    مدينةِ عِلم الله قد سُدَّ بابها

    And did he leave a way into right guidance, when

    the gate of the city of God's knowledge had been closed?

  16. بَلى عدِلتْ عن عَيبةِ العِلم واقتدت

    بمن مُلئت من كل عيبٍ عيابها

    Indeed, she turned away from the repository of knowledge and followed

    one whose stores were filled with every fault.

  17. ولو لم يكن عَبدٌ مِن الله لم تَنَلْ

    ولا لعقةً ممَّا تحلَّت كلابها

    Had there not been a servant from God, she would not have gained

    even a lick of what her dogs found sweet.

  18. فللهِ ما جرَّت سقيفةُ غيِّها

    على مرشديها يومَ جَلَّ مُصابها

    God, what the Saqifah of her error brought down

    upon her guides, on the day her calamity grew grave!

  19. بها ضَربتْ غَصباً على مُلكِ أحمدٍ

    بكفِّ عَديٍّ واستمرَّ اغتِصابُها

    Through it she forcibly laid hold of Ahmad's dominion,

    with Adiyy's hand, and her usurpation continued,

  20. إلى حيث بالأَمرِ استبدَّت أُميَّةٌ

    فأَسفرَ عن وجهِ الضَّلالِ نقابها

    until Umayyah took sole command,

    and her veil lifted from the face of misguidance.

  21. وأبدت حقودَ الجاهلية بعد ما

    لخوفٍ من الإِسلام طال احتجابها

    She revealed the hatreds of the Age of Ignorance, after

    their long concealment out of fear of Islam.

  22. وسلَّت سيوفاً أَظمأَ الله حدَّها

    فأَضحى إلى دمُ الهادين وهو شَرابها

    She unsheathed swords whose edges God had made thirsty,

    and their edges turned toward the guides' blood, their drink.

  23. فقل لِنزارٍ سوِّمي الخيل إنَّها

    تحنُّ إلى كرِّ الطِراد عِرابُها

    So tell Nizar: Mark the horses, for

    her purebreds long for the charge and the chase.

  24. لها إن وهبتِ الأرض يوماً أَرَتكِها

    قد انحطَّ خلفَ الخافِقينِ ترابها

    If one day you bestowed the earth on them, they would show it to you

    with its dust fallen behind the two horizons.

  25. حرامٌ على عينيكِ مضمضةُ الكَرى

    فإنَّ لَيالي الهمِّ طال حسابها

    Forbidden to your eyes is even a sip of sleep,

    for the reckoning of sorrow's nights has grown long.

  26. فلا نومَ حتَّى توقَد الحرب منكُم

    بملمومةٍ شهباء يُذكي شهابها

    No sleep, then, until war is kindled by you

    with a massed, ash-gray host, stoking its flame,

  27. تَساقى بأفواهِ الضُبا مِن أُميَّةٍ

    مُدام نجيعٍ والرُؤس حُبابها

    drinking through the mouths of blades, from Umayyah,

    wine of fresh blood, with heads for its bubbles.

  28. كأنَّ بأيديها الضُبا وبنودُها

    إلى مهج الأبطالِ تَهوي حِرابها

    As though the blades in her hands, and her banners—

    her spears swooping upon the warriors' hearts—

  29. فِراخُ المنايا في الوكور لرِقِّها

    قد التقَطت حبَّ القلوبِ عقابُها

    were death's tender fledglings in their nests,

    for whom her eagle had gathered the kernels of hearts.

  30. عَجبتُ لكم أن لا تجيش نفوسكم

    وأَن لا يقيئَ المرهفاتِ قِرابها

    I marvel that your souls do not surge,

    and their scabbards do not vomit out the keen-edged swords,

  31. وهذي بنو عَصَّارة الخمرِ أصبحت

    على مِنبر الهادي يَطنُّ ذُبابها

    while these sons of the wine-presser have now risen:

    their flies buzz upon the Guide's pulpit.

  32. رَقدتِ وهبَّت منكِ تطلبُ وِترها

    إلى أن شَفى الحِقد القديم طِلابُها

    You slept, while she rose to seek her vengeance from you,

    until her pursuit soothed her ancient rancor.

  33. نَضت مِن سواد الثُّكل ما قد كسوتها

    وأصبحنَ حُمراً من دِماكِ ثيابها

    She stripped off the black mourning in which you had clothed her,

    and her garments turned red with your blood.

  34. أَفي كلِّ يومٍ منكِ صدرُ ابن غابةٍ

    تَبيت عليهِ رابضاتٍ ذيابها

    Must every day the breast of a son of the forest among you

    be where her wolves crouch through the night?

  35. يُمزِّق أَحشاءَ الإِمامةِ ظِفرها

    عِناداً ويُدمى من دم الوحي نابُها

    Her claw tears the entrails of the imamate,

    defiantly, and her fang is bloodied with revelation's blood.

  36. لكِ الله من موتورةٍ هانَ غَلبُها

    وعهدي بها صَعب المرام غلابها

    God help you, unavenged and so easily subdued;

    yet I knew conquering her to be a difficult aim.

  37. كأَن من بني صَخرٍ سيوفك لم تكن

    مَقامَ جفونِ العين قام ذبابها

    As though among the sons of Sakhr your swords had not

    set their tips in the place of eyelids;

  38. وحَتَّى كأن لم تنتثر في صدورِها

    أنابيب سمرٍ لم تَخنك حِرابُها

    and even as though there had not scattered in their breasts

    the shafts of brown spears whose points never betrayed you.

  39. أَفي الحقِّ أن تحوي صفايا تراثكم

    أَكفٌّ عن الإِسلامِ طال انجذابها

    Is it right that the choicest of your inheritance be held

    by hands long drawn away from Islam?

  40. وتَذهب في الأحياءِ هدراً دماؤكم

    ويبطل حتَّى عند حَربِ طِلابها

    That your blood should be wasted among the living,

    and even before Harb the claim for it come to nothing?

  41. هَبوا ما على رُقشِ الأفاعي غَضاضةً

    إذا سلَّ منها ذات يوم إهابها

    Suppose the speckled vipers suffer no disgrace

    if one day their skin is stripped away;

  42. فَهل تصفح الأَفعى إذا ما تلاقيا

    على تِرةٍ كفُّ السليمِ وَنابها

    would a viper forgive, if the two met

    over a blood grievance—the bitten man's hand and her fang?

  43. أيخرجها من مستكنِّ وِجارها

    ويَصفو له بالرغم منها لَصابها

    Would he drag her from the hiding place of her lair,

    and gain her crevices untroubled, against her will,

  44. ويَطرِقها حتَّى يدمِّي صماخَها

    بكفٍّ له أَثَّرنَ قدماً نيابها

    and strike her until he bloodied her ear canal,

    with a hand her fangs had scarred long ago,

  45. وتنساب عَنه لَم تساوِر بَنانَه

    بِنهشٍ ولم يَعطب حشاه لعابها

    while she slithered away without attacking his fingers

    with a bite or destroying his entrails with her saliva?

  46. فما تلكَ مِن شأنِ الأفاعي فلِم غَدتْ

    بها مُضر الحمراء ترضى غضابها

    That is not the way of vipers; why, then, have

    the angry men of Mudar the Red come to accept it?

  47. أَصبراً وأَعرافُ السوابق لم يَكن

    من الدّم في ليلِ الكفاحِ اختضابُها

    Patience, while the manes of the swift steeds have not

    been dyed with blood in the night of combat?

  48. أَصبراً ولم تُرفع من النقع ضلّةٌ

    يُحيل بياضَ المشرقين ضُبابها

    Patience, when no canopy of dust has been raised

    whose haze alters the whiteness of the two easts?

  49. أَصبراً وسمرُ الخَطِّ لا متقصِّدٌ

    قَناها ولم تندقّ طعناً حِرابها

    Patience, while the brown spears of al-Khatt have no broken

    shafts, and their points have not shattered in thrusting?

  50. أَصبراً وبيضُ الهندِ لم يُثن حدّها

    ضِرابٌ يَردّ الشوس تُدمى رقابها

    Patience, while the white blades of India have not had their edges bent

    by blows that drive fierce warriors back with bleeding necks?

  51. وتِلكَ بأَجراعِ الطفوفِ نِساؤكم

    عَليها الفلا اسودَّت وضاقت رحابها

    And there, on the sandy flats of al-Tufuf, are your women;

    the wilderness has darkened around them and its expanses narrowed.

  52. وتِلكَ بأَجراعِ الطفوفِ نِساؤكم

    يَهدُّ الجبالَ الراسيات انتحابُها

    And there, on the sandy flats of al-Tufuf, are your women;

    their sobbing shatters the firmly rooted mountains.

  53. حَواسرَ بين القوم لم تلقَ حاجباً

    لها اللهُ حَسرى أين منها حِجابها

    Bareheaded among the people, they found no protector;

    God help them, exhausted—where is their veil?

  54. كجمرِ الغَضا أكبادُهنَّ من الظما

    بِقفرٍ لُعاب الشمسِ فيه شرابُها

    Their livers are like ghada embers from thirst,

    in a wasteland where the sun's spittle is their drink.

  55. تُردِّدُ أنفاساً حِراراً وتَنثني

    لها عبراتٍ ليسَ ينثني انصبابها

    They exhale scorching breaths, and there return

    to them tears whose outpouring never ceases.

  56. فَهاتيكَ يُحرقن الغوادي وهذِه

    يَنوب منابَ الغاديات انسكابها

    Those scorch the morning rain clouds, while these—

    their pouring takes the place of morning showers.

  57. هواتفُ من عَليا قريشٍ بعصبةٍ

    قَضوا كسيوفِ الهند فُلَّ ذُبابها

    Women of Quraysh's noblest ranks cry out to a band

    who died like Indian swords whose tips were blunted.

  58. مَضوا حيثُ لا الأقدامُ طائشة الخطا

    ولا رُجّح الأحلام خَفَّت هضابُها

    They passed away where feet did not stray in their steps,

    nor did the hills of their weighty minds grow light.

  59. تُطارِحهم بالعَتبِ شجواً وإنَّما

    دَماً فجّر الصخر الأصمّ عتابها

    She exchanges grieving reproaches with them, yet

    her reproach made the deaf rock gush blood.

  60. تنادي بصوت زلزل الأرض في الورى

    شجى ضعفه حتَّى لَخيف انقلابها

    She cries in a voice that shook the earth among mankind;

    its weakness grieved them, until the earth's overturning was feared.

  61. أفتيان فِهرٍ أين عن فتياتِكم

    حميَّتكم والأُسد لم يُحم غابها

    O young men of Fihr, where, for your young women,

    is your zeal, while the lions' forest lies undefended?

  62. أفتيان فِهرٍ أين عن فتياتِكم

    حفيظتكم في الحرب أن صرَّ نابها

    O young men of Fihr, where, for your young women,

    is your protective fury in war, when its fang gnashes?

  63. أتصفرُّ من رعبٍ ولم تنض بيضكم

    فيحمرَّ من سُود المنايا إهابُها

    Do they pale with terror while your white blades remain undrawn,

    so that their skins might redden with dark deaths?

  64. وتقهرها حربٌ على سلب بُردِها

    وأرجُلها بغياً يُباح انتهابها

    And war overpowers them to strip away their cloaks,

    and their legs are unjustly opened to plunder;

  65. وتتركها قسراً ببيداءَ من لظى

    هواجرها كادت تذوب هضابها

    and leaves them forcibly in a wilderness, where the blaze

    of its noondays almost melts its hills;

  66. على حين لا خدرٌ تقيلُ بِكسره

    عن الشمس حيث الأرض يغلي ترابها

    at a time when no curtained shelter lets them rest at noon under its side

    away from the sun, where the earth's dust boils.

  67. فوادحُ أجرى مقلة الأرض والسَّما

    دماً صَبغت وجه الصعيدِ مصابُها

    Grievous blows made the eye of earth and heaven flow

    with blood; their calamity stained the face of the ground.

  68. فيا من هُم الهادون والصفوةُ التي

    عن اللهِ قُرباً قاب قوسين قابها

    O you who are the guides and the chosen ones,

    whose nearness to God is a span of two bows,

  69. عليكم سلامُ اللهِ ما ديمُ الحيا

    مَرتها صَبا ريح فدرَّ سحابها

    God's peace be upon you, as long as the gentle rains

    are milked by an east wind, and their clouds pour.