أَلا كُلِّ بَصرِيٍّ يَرى أَنَّما العُلى

مُكَمَّهَةٌ سُحقٌ لَهُنَّ جَرينُ

Behold! Every visionary sees that glory

Behold, every Basran deems that high glory consists / Of tall, laden palms with drying yards beneath.

Is but a cloak patched and tattered.

So if you plant palm trees, know that our planting / Is the striking of swords and hot lances in the throat.

فَإِن تُغرِسوا نَخلاً فَإِنَّ غِراسَنا

ضِرابٌ وَطَعنٌ في النُحورِ سَخينُ

If you plant palms, our planting

And though I be of Basra, my migration was / To Damascus—yet the story branches into grief.

Is stabbing and piercing in the breasts made keen.

Neighboring a people with whom I share no ties, / Save for a nominal call and mere suspicion.

وَإِن أَكُ بَصرِيّاً فَإِنَّ مُهاجَري

دِمَشقُ وَلَكِنَّ الحَديثَ شُجونُ

If I am a visionary, still my emigration

When the registrar calls out my name, I answer him, / Responding to a summons that weighs lightly upon me.

Is Damascus; but the tale is agonizing.

The Azd of Oman have a sudden burst of pride in Al-Muhallab / When tribes begin to boast, though soon it softens.

مُجاوِرُ قَومٍ لَيسَ بَيني وَبَينَهُم

أَواصِرُ إِلّا دَعوَةٌ وَظُنونُ

An associate of a folk between whom and me

And Bakr deems that the spirit of prophecy came down / Upon Masma' while he was yet a fetus in the womb.

Are no family ties - just a call and fancies.

And Tamim declared: We do not see that any single one / Shall ever equal our Ahnaf until the hour of death.

إِذا ما دَعا بِاسمي العَريفُ أَجَبتُهُ

إِلى دَعوَةٍ مِمّا عَلَيَّ تَهونُ

When the noble calls me by name I answer him

So I blamed not Qays thereafter regarding Qutayba, / And their pride in him—for boasting is an art of many forms.

To a call wherein is nothing heavy for me.

لَأَزدِ عُمانٍ بِالمُهَلَّبِ نَزوَةٌ

إِذا افتَخَرَ الأَقوامُ ثُمَّ تَلينُ

For Oman's sake, the Muhalhil has a whim

Whenever the tribes boast, thereafter obedient.

وَبَكرٌ تَرى أَنَّ النُبُوَّةِ أُنزِلَت

عَلى مَسمَعٍ في الرَحمِ وَهوَ جَنينُ

And Bakr, you see, holds that prophethood

Was revealed to one hearing it as an embryo.

وَقالَت تَميمٌ لا نَرى أَنَّ واحِداً

كَأَحنَفِنا حَتّى المَماتِ يَكونُ

And Tamim said, "We see not that any one

Is like our Ahnaf till death comes to be."

فَما لُمتُ قَيساً بَعدَها في قُتَيبَةٍ

وَفَخرٍ بِهِ إِنَّ الفَخارَ فُنونُ

So I blamed not Qais thereafter for Kutaiba

And pride in him; boasting is tricks.