هَلْ تَعْرِفُ الدارَ بِذاتِ العَنْكَثِ
داراً لِذَاكَ الرَشَأِ المُرَعَّثِ
Do you know the house with twisted palm-trees,
The house of that rough, disheveled man,
فِي مُرْشِقاتٍ كَالدُّمَى لَمْ تُطْمَثِ
يَخْدَعْنَ بِالتَبْرِيقِ وَالتَأَنُّثِ
In shiny spaces like blood never wiped away,
Who fooled with flirting and being feminine,
بِالضَحْكِ لَمْعَ البَرْقِ وَالتَحَدُّثِ
تَأَلُّقَ الجِنِّ بِرَمْلِ الأَدْأَثِ
With laughter flashing like lightning and chattering,
The jinn glittered with grains of fine sand,
إِنِّي وَلَيْسَ الجِدُّ بِالتَمَكُّثِ
مُعاجِلٌ قَبْلَ احْتِثاثِ الحُثَّثِ
I am in earnest and not prone to delay,
In a hurry before the roots are torn out,
تَحْبِيرَ حِبْرٍ لَيْسَ بِالتَعلُّثِ
وَلا بِتَنْفاثِ الرُقَاةِ النُفَّثِ
Writing ink not diluted or adulterated
Or the blowing of bubbled-up bellows,
وَالقَوْلُ مُنْسِيٌّ إِذا لَمْ يُحْرَثِ
لَوْ كانَ مِنْ دُونِ جِبالِ العَثْعَثِ
And words are forgotten if they are not cultivated,
If they were not from beyond the mountains of ‘Ath‘ath,
ما اعْتاقَ مَدْحِي عَنْكَ مِنْ تَلَبُّثِ
فَارْفَعْ إِليَّ مُحَمَّد بْن الأَشْعَثِ
My praise of you would not be released from bonds.
So lift up to me Muhammad ibn al-Ash‘ath
وَاذْكُر أَجَاريَّ نَدىً لَمْ يَكْرُثِ
بِذَرْعِ لا وَانٍ وَلا مُرَبِّثِ
And mention my name freshly moistened,
With no deceit or corruption,
يا انْفَحْ لِنَسْرٍ جاثِمٍ مُغَوِّثِ
يَشكُرْ وَتَعْصِمْهُ مِنَ التَغَثُّثِ
O breath, to an eagle crouching despairingly,
He will thank and protect him from confusion,
يا انْفَحْ لِنَسْرٍ جاثِمٍ مُغَوِّثِ
يَمْلأُ بَطْحاءَ المَسِيلِ المِدْلَثِ
O breath, to an eagle crouching despairingly,
He will fill the plain of the torrent valley,
لَيْسَ طَرِيقُ خَيْرِهِ بِالأَوْعَثِ
وَأَنْتَ منْ حُسْنِ الثَنَاءِ المِنْثَثِ
The path of his excellence is not rugged,
You are of excellent refined praise,
تَبرِي جراثِيمَ العِدَى وَتَجْتَثِي
أَرُومَة الأَقْدَمِ غَيْر الأَحْدَثِ
You repel the germs of enmity and uproot
The prominence of the ancient, not the new,
في طَيِّبِ العِرْقِ وَطِيبِ المَحْرَثِ
أَحْرَزْتَهُ فِي خالِدٍ لَمْ يُدْأَثِ
You won it in an eternal not ruined,
The most generous inherited legacy,
أَكْرَمَ ميراثِ امْرِىءٍ مُوَرَّثِ
فِي ذِرْوَةٍ فَرْعاءَ لَمْ تُديَّثِ
At a lofty peak not yet modernized,
Rising above the young eaglets of hawks,
تَعْلُو خَناذِيذَ النِياف الأَشْرَثِ
وَيَوْم لَفِّ الفَزَعِ المُحَثْحَثِ
On the day when chaos binds on all sides
And the screams of one despairing for help,
وَهَتَفانِ الصارِخِ المُغَوِّثِ
وَالبَحْثِ مِن أَيْدِي الأَعادِي البُحَّثِ
And the searching of enemy hands groping,
You heal enmity from the evil of gaining bits here and there,
تَشْفِي العِدى مِنْ فِتْنَةِ التَفَرُّثِ
وَعِنْدَ مَغْثاثِ الأُمُورِ المُغَّثِ
And when matters are confused and disordered,
You filled the mouths of barking dogs
مَلأْتَ أَفْواه الكِلاب اللُّهَّثِ
مِنْ جَنْدَلِ القُفِّ وَتُرْبِ الكِثْكَثِ
With gravel of grit and dust of rubble,
Until they bargained for the least worthless thing,
حَتَّى اشْفَتَرُّوا بِالأَقَلِّ الأَخْبَثِ
تُعَجِّلُ السَيْرَ إِذَا لَمْ تَبْعَثِ
You hasten on when you are not sent out,
With the strength of the resolute, not soiled,
بِقُوَّةِ الحازِمِ غَيْر الأَلوَثِ
إذا الْتَوَت أَمْراسُهُ لَمْ تُنْكَثِ
When its reins are entangled, they are not severed,
And they have tasted your strength like a fierce lion,
وَقَدْ بُلُوا مِنْكَ بِلَيْث أَلْيَثِ
أَعْطَى أَبَا سارَةَ حَمْض المُغْلِثِ
Who gave Abu Sarah the bitterness of dissolution,
The strangler thought he would uproot
وَحَسِب الخَنّاق أَنْ سَيَحْتَثِي
ما شاءَ مِن أَبْوابِ كَسْبٍ مِقْعَثِ
Whatever he wished of the doors of vile earnings,
But the torrent swept him away in a filthy valley,
فَاضْضَرَّهُ السَيْلُ بِوادٍ مُرْمِثِ
فَكان أَمْر الفاسِق المُخَبَّثِ
Thus was the affair of the corrupt, ruined one,
Like one wearing out shoes of dung,
كَخاتِلِ الصَمْصامَة الشَرَنْبَثِ
وَقَدْ رَأَى الغَرْثانُ شَرَّ مَغْرَثِ
And the crow saw the evil of his nourishment
The face of al-Walid in blood defiled,
وَجْهُ الوَلِيدِ في الدّمِ المُلَوَّثِ
وَالتُّرْكُ وَالأكْرادُ إنْ لمْ تَشْبَثِ
The Turks and Kurds, if you do not trap them,
For good, and they were pelted with filthy scraps,
خَيْراً وَصُكُّوا بِالقِذَافِ المِلْطَثِ
تَرَكْتَهُمْ لَحْمَ الضِبَاعِ العُيَّثِ
You left them as meat for prowling wolves,
Captive and killed in the muddy marshland,
أَسْرَى وَقَتْلَى فِي غُثاءِ المُغْتَثِي
بِشِعْبِ تَنْبُوكٍ وَشِعْبِ العَوْبَثِ
By the mountain passes of Tanbuk and Awbath,
If you swear an oath you do not break it,
إِذا حَلَفْتَ قَسَماً لَمْ تحْنَثِ
وَاعْتَرَفُوا بَعْدَ الفِرارِ المِنْيَثِ
And they confessed after shameful flight,
When the hoof laid bare what was not dug up,
إِذ أَنْبَط الحافِرُ ما لَمْ يُنْبَثِ
مِلْحاً وَسَمّاً فِي ثَرَى الماءِ اللَّثِي
Salt and sulfur in the mud of slick water,
Abu Sarah has no confusion,
ما لأَبِي سارَةَ مِنْ مُعَثْعَثِ
إِذْ هُوَ بِالأَسْيَافِ لَمْ يُحَثْحَثِ
As he is with the swords and not bewildered,
And at the heat of earnest battle,
وَعِنْدَ جِدِّ العَرَكِ المُمَرِّثِ
يُبْطِىءُ نَصْرُ الناصِرِ المُغَوِّثِ
Help from the helper who brings victory is slow,
War gives a pearl that was not nursed,
الحَرْبُ تُعْطِي دِرَّةً لَمْ تُرْغَثِ
