أَلَم تَرَ أَنَّني وَتَّرتُ قَوسي

لأَبقَعَ مِن كِلابِ بَني تَميم

Do you not see that I have strung my bow

for a piebald cur among the dogs of Banu Tamim?

عَوى فَرَمَيتُهُ بِسِهامِ مَوتٍ

يُصِبنَ عَوادِيَ الكَلبِ اللَّئيم

It howled, so I shot it with arrows of death

that strike the vile cur in its hostile charge.

وَكُنتُ إِذا غَمَزتُ قَناةَ قَومٍ

كَسَرتُ كعوبها أَو تَستَقيم

Whenever I pressed a people’s spear-shaft,

I broke its knots—or made it come straight.

هُمُ الحَشو القَليلُ لِكُلِّ حَيٍّ

وهُم تَبَعٌ كَزائِدَةِ الظَّليم

They are the paltry rabble of every clan,

mere followers, like the male ostrich’s appendage.

فَلَستَ بِسابِقي هَرِماً وَلَمّا

يَمرُّ عَلى نَواجِذك القَدوم

You shall not outstrip me into decrepit age—not before

the adze has passed across your molars.

فَحاول كَيفَ تَنجو مِن وقاعي

فَإِنَّكَ بَعد ثالِثَةٍ رَميم

Then try to discover how you might escape my assault;

for after a third onslaught, you will be crumbling remains.

سراتُكُم الكلابُ البُقعُ فيكُم

لِلؤمِكُمُ وَليسَ لَكُم كَريم

Your chiefs are the piebald dogs among you;

they are your baseborn, and you have no noble man.

فَقَد قَدُمَت عبودَتكُم وَدُمتم

عَلى الفَحشاءِ وَالطَّبعِ اللَّئيم

Your servitude is ancient, and you have been found

given to obscenity and an ignoble disposition.