إِنّي عَلى رَغمِ الوشاةِ لَقائِلٌ

سَقى الجارَتينِ العارِضُ المتهَلِّلُ

Though the slanderers deny, still I'll say

The flashing thundercloud watered the two slopes

من الهيفِ صفراوانِ أَنّي أُتيحَتا

لِعَينيَّ إِنّي مهتَدٍ أَو مضَلَّلِ

With yellow torrents - did they make visible to my eyes

That I am rightly guided or gone astray?

فَما زِلتُ أَدعو اللَه حَتّى اِستَماهُما

من العَينِ جَونٌ ذو عَثانينَ مُسبِلُ

So I kept praying to God until they sucked

From the eye a tear with hanging ear-locks

به بَرَدٌ صافي الجَنوب تمدُّهُ

بَناتُ مخاضِ المُزنِ أَبيضُ مُنزَلُ

In it a cool south wind its sender extends

Daughters of childbirth pains, a white house

وَدونَهما من تَلعِ بُسيانَ فاللِوى

أَخاقيقُ فيها صِلِّيانٌ وَحَنظَلُ

Below them some foxglove, so the bending ones

Are thyme wherein are prayers and mint

نَباتانِ أَمّا الصِليانُ فَظاهِرُ

وَحنظَله في باطنِ التَلعِ مُسهِلُ

As for the prayers (thyme), they're obvious

And its mint is inside the foxglove, a purgative

وَقَد أَذعَرُ الوَحشَ الربوضَ بعِرمسٍ

مُضَبَّرةٍ حَرفٍ تَخُبُّ وَتُرقِلُ

It startled the wild sheep with a dodder

Humming, letters quiver and move

كأَنّي عَلى حَقباءَ خَدَّدَ لحمَها

إِرانٌ وَشَحّاجٌ من الجونِ مُعجِلُ

As if over old spirits it scratched their flesh

Quickly exciting, slackening from passion

صُهابيَّةُ العُثنونِ مَخطوفَةُ الحَشا

تَخيَّلُ للأَشباحِ غَرباً فتجفِلُ

Spirits of Ughnun, snatchers of shame

They imagine to the ghosts a west so they bristle

تضمَّنَها حَتّى تكاملَ نَسؤها

إِرانٌ فمُرفَضُّ الرداةِ فأيَّلُ

It included them until its association was complete

The quick, so the rejecters of faith are losers

يَجِدُّ بها في خَفضِه وَهِبابِه

أَحَذُّ جُماديٌّ من الحُقبِ صُلصُلُ

It insists on them, in its lowness and love

The most stubborn everlasting from fires kindling

يُصَرِّفُها طَوعاً وَكَرهاً إِذا أَبَت

مِصَكٌّ جلت عنه العَقايقُ صَندَلُ

It turns them willingly and unwillingly if they refuse

A rod - carnations have slipped away from it -

أَلَدُّ شَديدُ الأَخدَعينِ بليتِهِ

من الزَرِّ أَبلادٌ جَليبٌ وَمُخضَلُ

The fiercest, strict in his two sandal-thongs

Of poverty, lands arid and fruitful

يُعارِضُ تِسعاً قَد نَحاها لِمَورِدٍ

يَجورُ بِذاتِ الضِغنِ منها وَيعدِلُ

He challenges nine that he has protected for a pasture

That commits wrongdoing from them and justice

فَلاقى أَبا بِشرٍ عَلى الماءِ راصِداً

به مِن زَماعِ الصَيدِ وَردٌ وَأَفكَلُ

So he met Abi Bishr watching the water

With some fishing gear, roses and spear-grass

يُقَلِّبُ أَشباهاً كأن نِصالَها

بَعيجَةُ جَمرٍ أَو ذُبالٌ مُفَتَّلُ

He turns images over as if their blades

Were embers of live coal or a slit reed-mace

فلما رَضى إِغراضَها واِغتِرارَها

وَواجهَهُ من مَنبِض القَلب مقتَلُ

So when he approved their deception and confusion

And from the heart’s recess met his death

رَماها بمذروب المكَفِّ كَأَنَّهُ

سِوى عودِه المحشوشِ في الرأسِ مِغوَلُ

He threw them away carelessly as if his hand

Were just a stick shoved into his head, twisted

فأَنفَذَ حِضنَيها وَطرَّ وَراءَها

بمعتَقَبِ الوادي نَضيٌّ مَرمَّلُ

So he lodged them in both shoulders and turned after them

With the valley path high and easy to climb

وَغادَرَها تَكبو لحَرِّ جَبينِها

يُناطِحُ منها الأَرضَ خَدٌّ وَكلكَلُ

And left them bending from the heat of their brows

Colliding with the ground, cheeks and bald head

وَمارَ عَبيطٌ من نَجيعٍ كَأَنَّهُ

عَلى مستوى الإِطلَينِ نيرٌ مُرَحَّلُ

And a fleet-footed hyena from a lair passed by as if

On a level plain, a convoy on the move

وأجفلنَ من غَيرِ ائتمارٍ وَكُلُّها

لَهُ من عُبابِ الشَدِّ حِرزٌ وَمعقِلُ

And they snarled without consulting, all of them

Have from the garb of resolution shelter and refuge

يُؤَمِّلُ شِرباً مِن ثَميلٍ وَمأسِلٍ

وَما المَوتُ إِلّا حَيثُ أَرَّكَ مأسَلُ

Hoping for drink from a wineskin and water-skin -

And death is only where the water-skins take you

عليه أُبَيرٌ راصِداً ما يَروقُه

من الرَمي إِلّا الجَيِّدُ المتنخَّلُ

On it Ubayr lies in wait for what shooting

Pleases him but the excellent perforated

وَلاقَينَ جبّارَ بنَ حمزةَ بعدَما

أَطابَ بشَكٍّ أَيَّ أَمرَيهِ أَفعَلُ

And they met Jabbar the son of Hamza after he

Had relaxed enjoying whichever of his two affairs is better

يقلِّبُ أَشباهاً كأن يصالَها

خَوافي حَمامٍ ضَمَّها الصَيفَ منزِلُ

Turning images over as if their blades

Were wild pigeons which summer had harboured

وَصَفراءَ مِن نَبعٍ رَنينٌ خُواتُها

تَجودُ بأَيدي النازِعينَ وَتبخَلُ

And yellow from a spring - their sisters’ echo

Is generous with the hands of the pullers and stingy

وَباتَ يَرى الأَرضَ الفَضاءَ كَأَنَّها

مَراقِبُ يَخشى هولَها المتنَزِّلُ

And he remained seeing the vacant land as if it

Were watch-towers fearing its descending horrors

يُؤامِرُ نفسيهِ أَعينَ غُمازَةٍ

يُغَلِّسُ أَم حَيثُ النِباجُ وَثَيتَلُ

Tempting his soul - winking eyes

He wades about where the barking is and foxholes

فلما اِرجَحَنَّ اللَيلُ عَنه رَمى بِها

نِجادَ الفَلا يَعلو مِراراً وَيَسفُلُ

So when the night declined against him he shot them

Fate’s arrows rise and fall

فَغامَرَ طَحلاءَ الشَرائِعِ حولَهُ

بأرجائِها غابٌ أَلَفُّ وَثيِّلُ

So he risked the deserted plateau around him

In its places a loved one, and a third

فغمَّرها مستوفِزاً ثمَّ حاذَها

يَشُجُّ الصوى من قُربها الشَدُ من عَلُ

So he submerged her, inciting, then compared her

Pulling the thorn bushes nearer from their aloofness

وَأَضحَت بأَجوازِ الفَلاةِ كَأَنَّها

وَقَد راحَتِ الشَدَّ الحنيُّ المعَطَّلُ

And she became in the desert’s expanses as if

The passion had rested, the loving held back

أَلا هَذِهِ أَمُّ الصَبيينِ إِذ رأت

شُحوباً بِضاحي الجِسم مني تهزَّلُ

Look - this is the mother of the two boys when she saw

Pallor on my body’s edge shaking

تَقولُ بِما قَد كانَ أَفرَعَ ناعِماً

تغيَّرَ واِستَولى عليه التبدُّلُ

She says, with what had been fresh and thriving

It changed and transition seized it

فَإِن تَسألي عَنّي صِحابي تُنَبَّئي

إِذا ما اِنفَرى سِرباليالمتَرعبِلُ

So if you ask my friends about me they will inform you

When my wrappings unravel - the bewildered

تُنَبّي بأَنّي ماجِدٌ ذو حَفيظَةٍ

أَخو القَومِ جَوّابُ الفَلاةِ شَمردَلُ

They will inform you I am praised, of excellent memory

Brother of the people, answerer of wastelands, a club

تَريني غَداةَ البَذلِ أَهتَزُّ للنَدى

كَما جَرَّدَ السَيفَ اليَمانيَّ صيقَلُ

You will see me tomorrow morning shake from the dew

As Yemeni swords are stripped for scouring

فَلا يَهنِئَنَّ الشامَتَينَ اِغتباطُهم

إِذا غالَ أَجلادي تُرابٌ وَجَندَلُ

So let not the gloaters rejoice in their joy

When my bodies are obscured by soil and lizard holes

وإضتُ هَميداً تَحتَ رَمسٍ بربوَةٍ

تَعاوَرُني ريحٌ جَنوبٌ وَشمأَلُ

And I became feverish under a colocynth tree in a tract

A south or north wind alternates visiting me

تَمنّى ليَ المَوتَ الَّذي لَستُ سابِقاً

مَعاشِرُ من ريبِ الحَوادِثِ جُهَّلُ

Wishing me a death I was no forerunner to

A company who doubt the accidents, ignorant

مَعاشِرُ أَضحى وُدُّهُم متَبايناً

وَشَرُّهُمُ بادٍ يَدَ الدَهرِ مُقبِلُ

A company whose affection has become discordant

And their evil commanding the days, arriving

أَقَرَّ وِقاعي أَنفُساً لَيسَ بينَها

وَبَينَ حياضِ المَوتِ للشَربِ منهَلُ

My surroundings have made souls between which

And the basin of death for drinking there is no water-spring

كَما راعَ ممسى اللَيلِ أَو مُستَوى الضُحى

عَصافيرَ حُجرانِ الجُنَينَةِ أَجدَلُ

As the evening viewed the night or the level of dawn

Sparrows in the crevices of granite, chirping