أَفي كُلِّ عامٍ لا يَزالُ لِعامِرٍ

عَلى الفِزرِ نَهبٌ مِن أُروشٍ مُزَنَّمُ

Does 'Āmir's clan each year still take as spoils

From the rich pastures much plunder to haul home?

لَعَمرُكَ ما أَدري وَإِنّي لَسائِلٌ

أَمُرَّةُ أَم أَعمامُ مُرَّةَ أَظلَمُ

By your life, I do not know, though I question—

Are sisters harsher, or uncles darker?

فَما لِلسَمينِ لا يَقومُ خَطيبُها

وَما لِاِبنِ ذي الجَدَّينِ لا يَتَكَلَّمُ

Why does the plump one not make her spokesman rise?

Why is the scion of noble line struck dumb?

بِشَنعاءَ بَينَ الأَصلِ لا يَستَطيعُها

إِذا القَومُ هابوها السَخيفُ المُزَلَّمُ

With a homely woman of good birth he cannot cope

If the tribe scorn her as a worthless fool.

عَلى حينِ لا يَدري أَما قَد مَضى لَها

مِنَ اللَيلِ أَم مُستَأخِرُ اللَيلِ أَعظَمُ

And she knows not if the night that's passed for her

Was short, or if the night to come is long.

وَما كانَتِ الجَبّاءُ مِنّا مَرَبَّةً

وَلا ثَمَدُ الغَورَينِ ذاكَ المُقَدَّمُ

We did not foster Jabal's maid as foundling;

Nor was Thamūd's rocky valley ours to guard.