فلِلَّه عَينا مَن رَأى كَقضيةٍ

قَضى لي بِها قَرمُ العِراقِ المُهلَّبُ

Blessed are the eyes that saw my case

As judged by the chief judge of Iraq

قَضى أَلفَ دينارٍ بِجارٍ أَجَرتُهُ

مِنَ الطَّيرِ إِذ يَبكي شَجاه وَيندُبُ

He ruled I pay a thousand gold coins

To a neighbor whose bird I made weep and mourn

رَماها حَبيبُ بن المُهلِّبِ رَميَةً

فَأَثبَتها بِالسَّهمِ والسَّهم يَغرُبُ

Shot by Habib ibn al-Muhallab’s arrow

That pierced it as the sun began to set

فَأَلزَمَهُ عَقل القَتيلِ ابن حُرَّةٍ

وَقال حَبيب إِنَّما كُنتُ أَلعَبُ

So he charged me with the blood-price of the slain

And Habib said, “I was only playing!”

فَقال زيادٌ لا يُرَوِّعُ جارُهُ

وَجارةُ جارِي مثلُ جلدي وَأَقرَبُ

But Ziyad said, “One must not frighten his neighbor.

A neighbor of my neighbor is like my own skin and kin.”