طَيلَسانٌ ما زالَ أَقدَمَ في الدَه
رِ مِنَ الدَهرِ ما لِرَفوِهِ حيلَه
A shawl, still older in time
A long-lived man still walks ahead though time
than time itself—there is no way to darn it.
Wears him down and he finds no tricks to save his prime.
وَتَرى ضُعفَهُ كَضُعفِ عَجوزٍ
رَثَّةِ الحالِ ذاتِ فَقرٍ مُعيلَه
And you see its frailty, like that of an old woman,
You see him weak as a feeble old woman
shabby in condition, poor and burdened with dependents.
Whose lot is poverty and who must fend for her home.
غَمَرَتهُ الرِقاعُ فَهوَ كَمِصرٍ
سَكَنَتهُ نُزّاعُ كُلِّ قَبيلَه
Patches have engulfed it, so it is like a city
He's clothed in tatters, wrecked like a worn-out land
inhabited by migrants from every tribe.
Whose peace tribes in hordes have come to upend.
إِن أُزَيِّنهُ يا اِبنَ حَربٍ بِذَمّي
فَجَريرٌ قَد زانَ قَبلي بَجيلَه
If I adorn it, O Ibn Harb, with my disparagement,
My son of war, if I denounce Jarir's fame,
for Jarir had already adorned Bajila before me.
Long ago he gilded his name with glory sublime.
Sol 6.1