عَلى خُبزِ إِسماعيلَ واقِيَةُ البُخلِ

فَقَد هَلَّ في دارِ الأَمانِ مِنَ الأَكلِ

Upon Ismail's bread lies the protection of miserliness,

For it has settled in a sanctuary safe from being eaten.

وَما خُبزُهُ إِلّا كَآوى يُرى ابنُهُ

وَلَم يُرَ آوى في حُزونٍ وَلا سَهلِ

His bread is but like Awa, whose son is seen,

Yet Awa himself is never sighted on rough ground or plain.

وَما خُبزُهُ إِلّا كَعَنقاءِ مُغرِبٍ

تُصَوَّرُ في بُسطِ المُلوكِ وَفي المُثلِ

His bread is naught but like the Phoenix of the West,

Depicted upon the carpets of kings and in figures of speech.

يُحَدِّثُ عَنها الناسَ مِن غَيرِ رُؤيَةٍ

سِوى صورَةٍ ما إِن تُمَرَّ وَلا تُحلي

People speak of it without ever having seen it,

Save as an image that yields neither bitterness nor sweet.

وَما خُبزُهُ إِلّا كُلَيبُ بنُ وائِلٍ

وَمَن كانَ يَحمي عِزُّهُ مَنبِتُ البَقلِ

His bread is none other than Kulayb ibn Wa'il,

He whose might used to guard the very patch where herbage sprouts.

وَإِذ هُوَ لا يَستَبُّ خِصمانِ عِندَهُ

وَلا الصَوتُ مَرفوعٌ بِجِدٍّ وَلا هَزلِ

In whose presence no two adversaries dared to quarrel,

Nor was any voice raised in earnest or in jest.

فَإِن خُبزُ إِسماعيلَ حَلَّ بِهِ الَّذي

أَصابَ كُلَيباً لَم يَكُن ذاكَ مِن ذُلِّ

For upon Ismail's bread has fallen the very fate

That struck Kulayb—though not from any weakness,

وَلَكِن قَضاءٌ لَيسَ يُسطاعُ رَدُّهُ

بِحيلَةِ ذي مَكرٍ وَلا فِكرِ ذي عَقلِ

But it is a decree that cannot be repelled

By the wiles of a plotter nor the thought of a sage.