لَحا اللهُ الجزيرَةَ من بلادٍ

ولا حَيّا مُحيّاها بمُزْنِ

May God curse al-Jazira among all lands,

and may no raincloud ever greet its face.

فإنّ بها يقيني عاد شَكّاً

وأصدقُ من يقينِ الناسِ ظَنّي

For there my certainty reverted to doubt,

and my suspicion proved truer than people’s certainty.

دعا حَوذانُها إبلي فقالتْ

ألا لا أشْتري عُشْباً بمَنِّ

Its ḥawdhān plants called to my camels, but they said:

“No—I will not buy grass at the cost of another’s favor.”

وتهتِفُ بي ألا تمْتاحُ أهْلي

أأَهْلِكُ ليتَ أمي لم تلِدْني

And she calls to me: “Will you not draw water for my kin?

Am I to perish? Would that my mother had never borne me!”

فضُمّي يا نَصِيْبِيْنُ الحَواني

على ما فيكِ من طيبٍ وحُسْنِ

So gather your curving sides, O Nisibin,

around all the sweetness and beauty within you.

فلو في القَيظِ جِئتُكِ رَهنَ عَشْرٍ

لما ألقيتُ في الهِرْماسِ شَنّي

Had I come to you in summer’s blaze, my excuse would have been assured;

I would never have lowered my waterskin into al-Hirmas,

ولا استقيتُ فيكِ سوى العَوالي

وبِيضِ الهندِ من ضَربِ وطَعْنِ

nor drawn water in you with anything but lofty spears

and gleaming Indian blades, amid slashing and thrusting.

بلادٌ ما رأيتُ بها صديقاً

ولا النصلَ الذي يَحويهِ جَفْني

A land where I saw no friend,

nor any palm for my eye to behold.

أَبيضَ المشرفيةِ إنّ سيفي

رعى للهامِ ما لم يَرْعَ منّي

I make the Mashrafi blade flash; indeed, my sword

has shown skulls a care it never showed me.

ولو ذاقَ المَذلّةَ من نَميرٍ

أصابَ بني عُقيلٍ بالتّجَنّي

And if one of Numayr were to taste humiliation—

the one who wrongfully assailed Banu ʿUqayl—

فتطمعُ أن تَمَلّكَ بالتَواني

وقد عرّضتَ حالكَ للتظنّي

do you then hope to gain dominion through delay,

when you have exposed your condition to suspicion

ولم ترْعَ اللّبيبَ بمُلْجَماتٍ

تَبُذُّ تجاربَ الرجلِ المُسِنِّ

and have not terrified the prudent with bridled steeds

that outstrip the experience of an aged man?

فإما أنْ تَزورَ بني عديٍّ

وفي رِجْليكَ أحْجالٌ تُعني

Then either you will visit Banu ʿAdi

with tormenting fetter-rings upon your legs,

وإمّا أن تزُورَهُمُ بجيشٍ

يُصَدَّقُ كلّما زَعَمَ التّمنّي

or you will visit them at the head of an army

that makes true all that aspiration has claimed.