يا أبا أيوب هذي كنيةٌ

من كُنَى الأنعامِ قِدْماً لم تزلْ

O Abu Ayyub, this byname of yours

Has long remained among the bynames of livestock.

ولقد وُفّقَ مَنْ كنّاكها

وأصاب الحقَّ فيها وعَدَلْ

How surely right was whoever bestowed it on you—

He struck the truth in it and judged justly.

أنت شِبهٌ للذي تُكنَى به

ولبعضِ الخَلْقِ من بعض مَثلْ

You are the likeness of that by which you are called;

For some creatures find their likeness in others.

لستُ ألحاكَ على ما سُمْتني

من قبيحِ الرد أو منعِ النَّفل

I do not blame you for what you made me suffer:

An ugly rebuff, or the withholding of largesse.

قد قضى قول لَبيدٍ بيننا

إنما يجزي الفتى ليس الجمل

A saying of Labid has already judged between us:

“It is the man who requites—not the camel.”

كم حذوناكَ لترقى في العلا

وأبى اللَّهُ فلا تعلُ هُبل

How often we have shod you, that you might climb to the heights;

But God refused—so rise no higher, Hubal.