أَنابغَ لَمْ تَنْبَغْ ولَمْ تَكُ أَوّلا

وكُنْتَ صُنيّاً بَيْنَ صُدَّيْنِ مَجْهَلا

You never excelled, nor were you first,

And were shielded between two ignorant men.

أَنابغَ إنْ تَنْبَغْ بلُؤْمِكَ لا تَجِدْ

لِلُؤْمِكَ إِلاّ وَسْطَ جَعْدَةَ مَجْعَلا

An-Nabighah, if you excel in your vileness, you will not find

Except amid the locks of Ja'dah's disheveled hair.

أعَيَّرْتَني داءً بأمّك مِثْلُهُ

وأيُّ جَوادٍ لا يُقالُ لَهُ هلا

You insulted me with an illness like your mother's,

And which steed isn't called spirited?

ومَا كُنتُ لو قاذفتُ جُلَّ عَشيرتي

لأذْكُرَ قَعْبَي حازِرٍ قَدْ تَثَمَّلا

I would not have mentioned the heel of Hazir

Had I cast aspersions on my whole tribe.

أَتانِي مِنَ الأنْباءِ أنّ عَشيرَةً

بشَورانَ يَزْجُونَ المطيَّ المُنَعَّلا

News came to me that a tribe

In Shauran saddle well-bred horses,

يَرُوحُ ويَغْدُو وَفْدُهُمْ بصحِيفَةٍ

لِيَسْتَجْلِدُوا لي ساءَ ذلك مَعْمَلا

Their delegates come and go with a letter

To take from me the evil price of protection.

على غَيْرِ جُرْمٍ غيرَ أنْ قُلْتُ عمّهم

يَعِيشُ أبوهم في ذُراهُ مغفَّلا

Without any crime except that I said about their uncle

He lives while his people are plunged in misery,

وأعْمى أتاهُ بالحجازِ نَثاهُمُ

وكانَ بأطرافِ الجِبالِ فأسْهَلا

And a blind man brought him in the Hijaz and inspired them,

Though he was on the outskirts of mountains so he slipped down.

فَجاءَ به أَصْحابُهُ يحملُونَهُ

إلى خَيْرِ حيٍّ آخَرينَ وأَوَّلا

His companions carried him

To the abode of another tribe which was more excellent and former.

إذا صَدَرَتْ وُرَّادُهم عَنْ حِياضِهِمْ

تُغادِرُ نَهْباً للزكاةِ مُعقَّلا

When their warriors turn away from their enclosures

They leave exposed to raids a protected settlement,

تساوِرُ سَوَّاراً إلى المَجْدِ والعُلى

وفي ذِمّتي لَئِنْ فَعَلْتَ لَيفْعَلا

Taking bracelets as spoils to glory and elevation.

And by my honor if you do the like I shall do it too

بمَجْدٍ إذا المرءُ اللّئيمُ أرادَهُ

هَوى دُونَهُ في مَهْبَلٍ ثم عَضَّلا

With a glory, which if the despicable man seeks,

He will fall into an abyss and be twisted.

وَهَلْ أَنْتَ إنْ كان الهِجاءُ مُحَرَّماً

وفي غيرِهِ فَضْلٌ لمَنْ كان أَفْضَلا

Are you forbidden from satire

While in other matters the nobler man is distinguished?

لَنا تامكٌ دون السَّماءِ وأَصْلُهُ

مُقِيمٌ طوالَ الدَّهْرِ لَنْ يتحَلْحَلا

We have a bow below the sky and its origin

Standing erect forever will not be shaken.

وما كانَ مَجْدٌ في أُناسٍ عَلِمْتُهُ

مِنَ النَّاسِ إلاّ مَجْدُنا كان أَوَّلا

And I knew no glory among people,

Except our glory which was first.

فَلَوْ كُنْتَ إذْ جارَيْتَ جارَيْتَ فانياً

جَرى وَهْوَ قَحْمٌ أَو ثَنِيّاً مُعَيِّلا

So had you, when contending with me, contended with one doomed to die,

He would have gone the way of a blotched nose or bent cripple.