أَلا حَيِّ أَطلالاً بِسَيحانَ فَالعَذبِ

إِلى بُرَعٍ فَالبِئرِ بِئرِ أَبي زُغبِ

O the ruins of Suhaiban! Lead on to the fresh sweet water,

Hail the scattered ruins at Sayhan and Al-Adhb,

To Bur` and then the wells, wells of my father Zughb.

Stretching to Bura‘, and the well—the Well of Abu Zughb,

تَمُرُّ بِها عُفرُ الظِباءِ كَأَنَّها

أَخاريدُ مِن رومٍ يُقَسَّمنَ في نَهبِ

The gazelles pass by them as though they are

Where dust-colored gazelles pass by, appearing as though

Women slaves from Rome divided up as plunder.

They were bashful Roman maidens being divided as spoils of war.

عَلَيها مِنَ السَرحاءِ ظِلٌّ كَأَنَّهُ

هَذاليلُ لَيلٍ غَيرِ مُنصَرِمِ النَحبِ

Upon it is the shade of the acacias like

Cast over the ruins is the shade of the great Sarha tree, like

The black night whose darkness creeps slowly across the ground.

The tattered remnants of a night whose weeping never ends.

تُلاعِبُ أَبكارَ الغَمامِ وَتَنتَمي

إِلى كُلِّ زُعلوقٍ وَخالِفَةٍ صَعبِ

They flirt with the virgins of the clouds and frolic

The land plays with the maiden rain-clouds, reaching up

To every mound and elevated ground that was hard to climb.

To every lofty peak and rugged, jagged slope.

مَنازِلُ كانَت مِن جُذامٍ وَفَرتَني

وَتِربِهِما هِندٌ فَأَبرَحتَ مِن تِربِ

The abodes belonged to Judham while Faratna abandoned me,

Dwellings that once belonged to the tribes of Judham and Fartana,

As did their soil, for Hind, so I departed from their soil.

And their companion Hind—oh, what a companion she was!

إِذا ما تَميمِيٌّ أَتاكَ مُفاخِراً

فَقُل عُدِّ عَن ذا كَيفَ أَكلَكَ لِلضَبِّ

If a Tamimite comes to you boasting,

If a man of Tamim comes to you boasting of pride,

Then say, “Go back, how the hyenas tore you apart!”

Say, "Leave this aside—tell me, how do you relish the lizard?"

تَفاخُرُ أَبناءَ المُلوكِ سَفاهَةً

وَبَولُكَ يَجري فَوقَ ساقِكَ وَالكَعبِ

To boast foolishly by the sons of kings -

Do you boast against the sons of kings in your folly,

Your urine runs down your leg to your heel.

While your urine still trickles down your leg and heel?

إِذا ابتَدَرَ الناسُ الفِعالَ فَخُذ عَصاً

وَدَعدِع بِمَعزى يا ابنَ طالِقَةِ الذَربِ

When people take the initiative, take a stick

When men race for noble deeds, grab a shepherd's staff instead,

And with a young goat bleat in Ma’azah, O son of Talikah the flea-bitten!

And herd the goats, O son of a loose-tongued woman.

فَنَحنُ مَلَكنا الأَرضَ شَرقاً وَمَغرِباً

وَشَيخُكَ ماءٌ في التَرائِبِ وَالصُلبِ

For we ruled the land, East and West,

For we have ruled the earth from the east to the west,

While your Shaykh is water in the leather buckets and in the hides.

While your forefather was merely fluid in the loins of men.

فَلَمّا أَبى إِلّا افتِخاراً بِحاجِبٍ

هَتَمتُ ثَناياهُ بِجَندَلَةِ الشِعبِ

But when he persisted in boasting about Hajib

And when he insisted on boasting of Hajib's fame,

I split his ribs with the knife of the cliff.

I shattered his front teeth with a jagged mountain rock.

تَفاخِرُنا جَهلاً بِظِئرِ نَبِيِّنا

أَلا إِنَّما وَجهُ التَميمِيِّ مِن هَضبِ

Boasting foolishly about the udder of our prophet’s she-camel -

Do you boast to us blindly of our Prophet's wet nurse?

Indeed, the face of the Tamimite is from ugly skulls!

Truly, the face of a Tamimi is carved from rough stone.

وَأَمّا بَنو دَودانَ وَالحَيُّ كاحِلٌ

فَمِن جِلدَةٍ بَينَ الحَزيمينِ وَالعَجبِ

As for the clans of Dodan and the Kahil alive,

As for the Banu Dadan and the tribe of Kahil,

They are from a skin between the two sandal straps and the strange marvels!

They are but skin stretching between the flank and the tail.

فَخَرتُم سَفاهاً أَن غَدَرتُم بِرَبِّكُم

فَمَهلاً بَني اللَكناءِ في كَبَّةِ الحَربِ

So you fell foolishly when you betrayed your Lord -

You boasted foolishly of betraying your Lord,

Wait, O sons of weakness in times of war!

So hold your tongue, sons of the stammering woman, in war's heat.

فَأَنتُم غَطاريسُ الخَميسِ إِذا غَزا

غِذاؤُكُمُ تِلكَ الأَخاطيطُ في التُربِ

You are the scabbed mules of (the day of) Thursday when invading -

You strut like pompous tyrants when the army marches,

Your food is those swellings in the soil!

Yet your only food is the crawling trails in the dust.

وَكُنتُم عَلى استِ الدَهرِ لا تُنكِرونَهُ

عَبيدَ البَهاليلِ السِباطِ بَني وَهبِ

You were, for ages of time, accepting it -

You have always been at the backside of history, denying it not,

Slaves of worthless and ignored sons of Wahb!

Mere slaves to the noble, generous lords of Banu Wahb.

وَيَومَ الصَفا أَسلَمتُمُ رَهطَ حاجِبٍ

فَأَنتُم مِنَ الكَنفانِ أَوضَعُ في الوَثبِ

And the day of As-Safa you submitted to the group of Hajib -

And on the Day of al-Safa, you surrendered Hajib’s kin,

So you are, from the two hemorrhoids, the lowest in leaping!

Proving yourselves lower than the basest creatures in the leap.

وَآبَ أَبوكُم قَد أَجَرَّ لِسانَهُ

يَمُجُّ عَلى عُثنونِهِ عَلَقَ الحَلبِ

Your father, his tongue is bound, death rattles

Your father returned, dragging his tongue in weariness,

Gurgling in his throat like the thickened milk in the water-skin.

Spitting the frothy clots of milk upon his beard.

وَضَيَّعتُمُ في العامِريِّينَ ثَأرَكُم

بِعَمرِ بنِ ضَبّاءَ المُصابِ بِلا ذَنبِ

You wasted regarding the `Amiris your revenge

You let your vengeance against the Banu ‘Amir go to waste,

For `Amr ibn Dabba’ who was killed though innocent.

For the sake of ‘Amr bin Dabba, who was slain without a sin.

فَكانَ هِجاءُ الجَعفَرِيِّ نَكيرَكُم

وَقَد لَحَبوا مِنهُ السِنامَ عَنِ الصُلبِ

Thus the lampoon poetry of Al-Ja’fari was your shame

So the satire of the Ja‘fari poet became your scourge,

When they scraped the fats from it off the hides!

After they sliced the choice camel's hump right off the spine.

فَأوجَعتُمُ بِالسَمهَرِيِّ فَذُقتُمُ

مَرارَتَها مِثلَ العَلاقِمِ في العَبِّ

You were hurt by As-Samahri so you tasted

You were pierced with Samhari spears until you tasted

Its bitterness like aloes wood in the wine!

Their bitterness, like swallowing vile colocynth juice.

فَأَصبَحَ رَأسُ الفَقعَسِيِّ كَأَنَّما

تَخَطَّفَهُ أَقنى أَبو أَفرُخٍ زُغبِ

So the head of Al-Faqr`asi became as though

Until the head of Al-Faq‘asi looked as though

Snatched away by a hyena - Abu Afakh, the flea-bitten!

It was snatched by a hook-beaked eagle feeding downy chicks.

وَأَنتُم شَمَتُّم بِابنِ دارَةَ سالِمٍ

فَجازَتكُمُ الأَيّامُ نَكباً عَلى نَكبِ

While you gloated over Ibn Darah Salim

And you gloated over the misfortune of Salim ibn Darah,

So days passed you over blow after blow!

So time repaid you with disaster upon disaster.

مَنَعتُم أَخاكُم عُقبَةً وَهوَ رامِضٌ

وَحَلَّأتُموهُ أَن يَذوقَ مِنَ العَذبِ

You prevented your brother `Uqbah while he set forth earnestly

You denied your brother ‘Uqbah when he burned with thirst,

And quenched his thirst lest he taste anything fresh!

Driving him away from the taste of cool, fresh water.

فَمِتُّم بِأَيديكُم فَلا ماتَ غَيرُكُم

وَغَنّى بِكُم أَبناءُ دارَةَ في الشِربِ

So you died by your own hands - none dies but you -

So you perished by your own hands—may no others die so,

And the sons of Darah sang joyously with the drinking!

While the sons of Darah sang mockery of you in their cups.

فَإِن تَكُ مِنكُم شَعرَةُ ابنَةِ مُعكِدٍ

فَشَعرَةُ مِن شَعرِ العِجانِ أَوِ الأَسبِ

If there remains among you the hair of Mu’akkid’s daughter,

If the hair of Mu‘kid’s daughter truly belongs to your kin,

Then a hair from the forelock of a donkey or from lion fur!

It is but a hair plucked from the groin or the loins.

تَظَلُّ عَلى رَمّانَ تَبرُمُ غَزلَها

وَتَنكُثُهُ وَالغَزلُ لَيسَ بِذي عَتبِ

It would drape over the pomegranate tree and its spinning angers it

She sits upon Mount Rumman, endlessly twisting her thread,

And tangles it while the spinning is no cause for blame!

Then unravels it, though the spun thread bore no flaw.

سَأَبغي عَلَيكُم يا بَني وَذَحِ استِها

مَثالِبَ أَعيا دونَهُنَّ أَخو كَلبِ

I will exact against you, O sons of Wadhah, examples

I shall seek out—O sons of the filth upon her rear—

Inferior to them - the brother of a dog!

Scandals that would weary even the brother of Kalb to recount.