أَلَم تَرَ أَنَّ الغَدرَ وَاللُؤمَ وَالخِنى

أَلَم تَرَ أَنَّ الغَدرَ وَاللُؤمَ وَالخِنى

بَنى مَسكَناً بَينَ المَعينِ إِلى عَردِ

بَنى مَسكَناً بَينَ المَعينِ إِلى عَردِ

Have you not seen that treachery, baseness, and shameless vice

Have you not seen that treachery, baseness, and obscenity

have built themselves a dwelling from al-Maʿīn as far as Aden—

Have built a dwelling from al-Maʿīn to ʿArd,

فَغَزَّةَ فَالمَروتِ فَالخَبتِ فَالمُنى

فَغَزَّةَ فَالمَروتِ فَالخَبتِ فَالمُنى

إِلى بَيتِ زَمّاراءَ تُلداً عَلى تُلدِ

إِلى بَيتِ زَمّاراءَ تُلداً عَلى تُلدِ

Gaza, then al-Mart, then al-Khabt, then al-Munā—

Then Gaza, then al-Marūt, then al-Khabt, then al-Munā,

to the house of Zammārāʾ, an ancient patrimony upon patrimony?

To Zammārāʾ’s house, ancestral inheritance upon inheritance?

فَقُلتُ وَلَم أَملِك أَعَمروُ بنِ عامِرٍ

فَقُلتُ وَلَم أَملِك أَعَمروُ بنِ عامِرٍ

لِفَرخِ بَني العَنقاءِ يُقتَلُ بِالعَبدِ

لِفَرخِ بَني العَنقاءِ يُقتَلُ بِالعَبدِ

So I said, unable to restrain myself: “Is ʿĀmir ibn ʿĀmir

So I cried, unable to restrain myself: O ʿAmr ibn ʿĀmir!

to be killed for a scion of Banū al-ʿAnqāʾ—for a slave?

For a scion of Banū al-ʿAnqāʾ is being slain for a slave!

لَقَد شابَ رَأسي أَو دَنا لِمَشيبِهِ

لَقَد شابَ رَأسي أَو دَنا لِمَشيبِهِ

وَما عَتَقَت سَعدُ بنِ زَرِّ وَلا هِندُ

وَما عَتَقَت سَعدُ بنِ زَرِّ وَلا هِندُ

My head has indeed gone gray—or is close to graying—

My head has indeed turned gray, or its graying is near,

while neither Saʿd ibn Zarr nor Hind has ever become free.”

Yet neither Saʿd ibn Zarr nor Hind has been freed.