لا تحسب النَّبطُ الأوغادُ أنَّهُمُ

أولى من العربِ الأمْجادِ بالقلمِ

The ignoble Nabataeans must not think

That they, more than the glorious Arabs, deserve the pen,

وإن غَدوا دون أهلِ الأرضِ إخوته

أبوهُمُ وأبيهِمْ منبتُ الأجمِ

Though they be brethren to the men of earth;

Their father and their ancestor is the source of the dunes.

كم من أخٍ لو أخوه كان هاديه

إذاً لضلَّ ضلالاً ليس بالأمم

How many a brother, had his brother guided him,

Would not have gone astray with other nations.

هداه أقصى غريبٍ قصدَ وِجْهتِهِ

من بعد ما حار في داجٍ من الظُّلم

He guided him, though from afar he came, to his destination

After he had wandered confused in deep darkness.

هذا أبو الصقر فردٌ في كتابتِه

وهو ابن شيبانَ بيْن الطلح والسَّلم

This is Abu al-Sakr, unique in his writing,

He is the son of Shayban between al-Talh and al-Salam.

ما جاورتْ نبطيَّ الزلِّ نبعتُه

بل جاورت النبع والشم

I did not settle near the slippery Nabataean,

But near the spring and the idol.

هو الذي حملَ الأقلامَ ضاحيةً

عن الطريق وقد جارتْ عن اللُّقم

It is he who carried the pens flaming

Away from the path, though mouths had deviated from morsels.

أمسى وأصبحَ بين الناسِ أرْفَعَهُمْ

ذكراً وأشهرَهُمْ بالمجد والكرم

He rose and retired among men most eminent

In fame, most noble in glory and generosity.

كأنَّه الشمسُ في الأوج المُنيفِ بها

على البريَّةِ لا نارٌ على علمِ

As if he were the sun at its lofty zenith

Over the wilderness - no fire on a flagpole.

فزاده الله تشريفاً وأصْحبه

رُشْداً يُثَبِّتُ منه وطْأةَ القدم

May God give him more honor and grant him

Steadfastness to strengthen the tread of his feet.