سَلِ الدَّار مِنْ جَنَبْي حِبِرٍّ فَوَاهِبِ

إلى مَا رَأَى هَضْبَ القَلِيبِ المُضَيَّحُ

Ask the abode, next to ink writing, of those who perished,

To where the mirage of the hot sands faded.

أَقَامَ وخَلَّتْهُ كُبَيْشَةُ بَعْدَمَا

أَطَالَ بِهِ مِنْهَا مَرَاحٌ ومَسْرَحٌ

It stayed, after Kubeisha deserted it,

After she elongated with it a place of rest and an open area.

وحَلْت سُوَاجاً حِلةً فَكَأَنَّمَا

بِحَزْمِ سُوَاجٍ وَشْمُ كفٍّ مُقَرَّحُ

She donned a garment, a fine dress, as if

With the bundle of a bridle and a palm holding the reigns.

تَقُولُ تَرَبَّحْ يَغْمُرِ المَالُ أَهْلَهُ

كُبَيْشَةُ والتَّقْوَى إِلى اللهِ أَرْبَحُ

You say, take comfort, money immerses its people,

While piety to God is more profitable.

أَلَمْ تَعْلمِي أَنْ لاَ يَذُمُّ فُجَاءَتي

دَخِيلي إذَا اغْبَرَّ العِضَاةُ المُجَلَّحُ

Don't you know that my impetuous visitors do not blame me

When the twisting sands are set in motion at midday?

وَهبَّتْ شَمَالاً تَهْتِكُ السِّتْرَ قَرَّةً

تَكادُ قُبَيْلَ الصُّبْحِ بالمَاءِ تَنْضَحُ

The wind blows left, rending the curtains lightly,

Almost sprinkling water at dawn.

يَظَلُّ الحِصَانُ الوَرْدُ فِيهَا مُجَلَّلاً

لَدَى السِّتْرِ يَغْشَاهُ المِصَكُّ الصَّمَحْمَحُ

The horse remains still garlanded with flowers

Beside the curtain, shrouded by the silent evening.

وأَنْ لاَ أَلُومُ النَّفْسَ فِيمَا أَصَابنِي

وأَنْ لاَ أَكَادُ بِالَّذِي نِلْتُ أَفْرَحُ

That I don't blame the soul for what befell me,

And that I hardly rejoice at what I obtained.

ومَا الدَّهْرُ إِلاَّ تَارَتَانِ فَمِنْهُمَا

أَمُوتُ وأُخْرَى أَبْتَغِي العَيْشَ أَكْدَحُ

Life is but two calamities, and of them

I die, and the other I seek life's hardship.

وكِلْتَاهُمَا قَدْ خُطَّ لي في صَحِيفتي

فَلَلعَيشُ أَشْهَى لي وللْمَوْتُ أرْوَحُ

Both were prescribed for me in my script,

So living is more dear to me, and death more comfortable.

إذَا مِتُّ فَانْعَيْنِي بِمَا أَنَا أَهْلُهُ

وذُمِّي الحَيَاة كُلُّ عَيْشٍ مُتَرَّحُ

When I die, eulogize me with what suits me,

And say ill of all life that brought ease.

وقُولِي فَتىً تَشْقَى بِهِ النَّابُ رَدَّهَا

عَلَى رَغْمِهَا أَيْسَارُ صِدْقٍ وأَقْدُحُ

And say a noble man, whom adversity turned away,

Repelled it with sincerity, illumination, and flint.

تَخَيَّلَ فِيهَا ذُو وُسُومٍ كأنَّمَا

يُطَلَّى بِحُصٍّ أَوْ يُصَلى فَيُضْبَحُ

He imagined in it one marked, as if

He is clad in armor or prays so breakfasts.

جَلْت صَنِفاتُ الرَّيْطِ عَنهُ قوَابَهُ

وأَخْلصْنهُ مِمَّا يُصَانُ ويُمْسَحُ

The riffraff avoided him, so we purified him

From what is protected and wiped clean.

صَرِيعٌ دَرِيرٌ مَسُّهُ مَسُّ بَيْضَةٍ

إذَا سَنَحَتْ أَيْدِي المُفِيضِينَ يَبْرَحُ

A wrestling companion if touched is like touching an egg,

When the hands of the knight extend, it hatches.

بِهِ قَرَعٌ أَبْدَى الحَصَى عَنْ مُتُونِهِ

سَفَاسِقَ أَعْرَاهَا اللِّحَاءُ المُشَبَّحُ

With it he uncovered stones from their bases,

Boulders whose sides the smooth stones uncover.

غَدَا وَهْوَ مَجْدُولٌ فَرَاحَ كَأَنَّهُ

مِنَ الصَّكِّ والتّقْلِيبِ في الكفِّ أَفْطَحُ

He rose in the morning bent, as if

From beating and turning in the palm flattened.

خَرُوجٌ مِنَ الغُمَّى إذَا صُكَّ صَكَّةً

بَدَا والعُيُونُ المُسْتَكِفَّةُ تَلْمَحُ

An emergence from gloom when beaten

Eyes appear watching in waiting.

مُفَدّىً مُؤَدّىً بِالَيدَيْنِ مُلَعَّنٌ

خَلِيعُ لِحَامٍ فَائِرٌ مُتَمَنحُ

Ransomed, brought with both hands, accursed,

An ignoble carrier, open, granted wishes.

إِذَا امْتَنَحَتْهُ مِنْ مَعَدٍّ عِصَابَةٌ

غَدَا رَبُّهُ قَبْلَ المُفيضِينَ يَقْدَحُ

When snatched by the entrails of a band,

His Lord before the knights strikes flint.

أَرَقْتُ لِبَرْقٍ آخِرَ الَّليْلِ دُونَهُ

رِضامٌ وهَضْبٌ دُونَ رَمَّانَ أَفْيَحُ

I stayed up for lightning late night, below it

Plain and hill, below a pomegranate grove.

لِجَوْنٍ شَآمِ كُلَّمَا قُلْتُ قَدْ مَضَى

سَنَا والقَوَارِي الخُضْرُ في المَاءِ جُنَّحُ

For a moon the color of late afternoon, whenever I said it passed,

A year, and the green ducks in the water flutter wings.

فَأَضْحَى لَهُ جِلْبٌ بِأَكْنَافِ شُرْمَةٍ

أَجَشُّ سِمَاكِيُّ مِنَ الوَبْلِ أَفْضَحُ

So for it there was an early time with the sides of a blazing fire,

More scorching than embers, the most burning.

وأَظْهَرَ في غُلاَّنِ رَقْدٍ وسَيْلهُ

عَلاَجِيمُ لاَ ضَحْلٌ ولاَ مُتَضَحْضِحُ

It showed in the slumber of sleep its ways,

Jumbled, no clear, articulate speech.

وأَلْقَى بِشَرْجٍ والصَّريفِ بَعَاعَهُ

ثِقَالٌ رَوَايَاهُ مِنَ المُزْنِ دُلَّحُ

It let out excrement and its chaff

Loads heavy in transmission, soaked.

تَرَى كُلَّ وَادٍ جَالَ فِيهِ كَأَنَّما

أَنَاخَ عَلَيْهِ رَاكِبٌ مُتَمَلِّحُ

You see every valley it crossed, as if

A rider halted over it, salted.

وقَاظَتْ كِشَافاً مِنْ ضَرِيَّةِ مُشْرِفٍ

لَهَا مِنْ حَبَوْبَاةً خَسِيفٌ وأَبْطَحُ

It kept watch with an observer from the prominence of a overlooker

For it from Habbuba a bundle and floor mat.

ألاَ ليْتَ أَنَّا لَمْ نزلْ مثْلَ عَهْدِنَا

بِعَارِمَةِ الخَرْجَاءِ والعَهْدُ يَنْزَحُ

Oh, if only we did not stay, like our pact,

In the den of vermin, while the pact melts away.

بِحَيٍّ إِذَا قِيلَ اظْعَنُوا قَدْ أُتِيتُمُ

أَقَامُوا عَلَى أثْقَالِهِمْ وتَلَحْلَحُوا

With people, if told attack, they stood

On their burdens and slipped.

مَسَالِحُهُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ أَجْرَدَ سِابِحٍ

جَمُومٍ إِذَا ابْتَلَّ الحِزَامُ المُوَشَّحُ

Their weapons of every smooth swimmer

When the tight belt is soaked.

قُوَيْرِحِ أعْوَامٍ رَفِيعٍ قَذَالُهُ

يَظلُّ يَبُزُّ الكَهْلَ والكَهْلُ يَطْمَحُ

Qawair's years, its strap high, it

Remains striking old age, and old age aspires.

ثَنَاهُ فَلَمَّا رَاجَعَ العَدْوَ لَمْ يَزَلْ

يُنَازِعُ في فَأْسِ الِّلجَامِ ويَمْرَحُ

It bent him, so when he engaged the enemy, he did not stop

Contesting the axe handle and swaying.

يُنازعُ شَقِّيّاً كَأَنَّ عِنَانَهُ

يَفُوتُ بِهِ الإِقْدَاعَ جِذْعٌ مُنَقَّحُ

He contests a wretch, as if his bridle

Escapes him, a infected palm tree trunk.

ويُرْعِدُ إِرْعَادَ الهَجِين أَضَاعَهُ

غَدَاةَ الشَّمَالِ الشُّمْرُجُ المُنَتَصَّحُ

It thunders like the braying of donkeys it misplaced

One morning in the north, the soaked fleece.

وجَرْدَاءَ مِلْوَاحٍ يَجُولُ بَرِيمُهَا

تُوَقَّرُ بَعْدَ الرَّبْوِ فَرْطاً وتُمْسَحُ

And bare pieces of armor that wander around, their tips

Honored after sobbing, and wiped clean.

كسِيدِ الغَضَا في الطلِّ بَادَرَ جِرْوَهُ

أَهَالِيبَ شَدٍّ كُلُّهَا مُتَسَرِّحُ

Like the master of the spoiled in confrontation, it confronted its ignorance,

Dispositions of pulling, all slipping away.

وفِتْيَانِ صِدْقٍ قَدْ رَفَعْتُ عَقِيرَتي

لَهُمْ مَوْهِناً والزِّقُّ رَيَّانُ مُجْبَحُ

And young men of sincerity, for them I raised my banner,

Subduing, and the cloth dripping blood.

وضَمَّنْتُ أَرْسَانَ الجِيَادِ مُعَبَّداً

إِذَا مَا ضَرَبْنَا رَأْسَهُ لاَ يُرَنِّحُ

And I harnessed the gear of steeds, paved,

If we strike its head, it does not neigh.

فَبَاتَ يُقَاسي بَعْدَ مَا شُجَّ رَأْسُهُ

فُحُولاً جَمَعْنَاهَا تَشِبُّ وتَضْرَحُ

So it endured after its head was struck

Stallions we gathered that glisten and ripen.

وبَاتَ يُغَنى في الخلِيجِ كَأَنَّهُ

كُمَيْتٌ مُدَمّىً نَاصِعُ اللَّوْنِ أَقْرَحُ

And it sang in the gulf as if it

A buried corpse, shining in color, most ulcerated.

وقَدْ أَبْعَثُ الوَجْنَاءَ يَزْجُلُ خُفَّهَا

وَظِيفٌ كَظَنْوُبِ النَّعَامَةِ أَرْوَحُ

I sent the chafe that drums its footsteps

And a purpose like ostrich tail feathers, more comfortable.

يَصُكُّ الحَصَى عَنْ يَعْمَليٍّ كَأَنَّهُ إِذَا

مَا عَلاَ حَدَّ الأَمَاعِزِ مِرْضَحُ

It pounds the pebbles from a strong constitution as if when

It climbs past the height of goats, a lookout.

إِذَا الأَبْلقُ المَحْزُوُّ آَضَ كَأَنَّهُ

مِنَ الحَرِّ في جَهْدِ الظَّهِيرَةِ مِسْطَحُ

When the pink early dawn lies down, it is as though

Flattened from the heat at midday.