هَل تَعرِفُ الدارَ قَد مَحَّت مَعارِفُها

كَأَنَّما قَد بَراها بَعدَنا باري

Do you know the abode whose loved ones have been erased

As though its Builder had raised it after us?

مِمّا تَعاوَرُها الريحانِ آوِنَةً

طَوراً وَطَوراً تُعَفّيها بِأَمطارِ

With the sweet-scented herbs that alternate

Shading it for a time, then leaving it nude in the rains,

وَلَم أَكُن لِنِساءِ الحَيِّ قَد شَمِطَت

مِنّي المَفارِقُ أَحياناً بِزَوّارِ

I had not been to the dwellings of the living before parting

Had stripped me bare of them now and again.

وَما بِها غَيرُ أَدماثٍ وَأَبنِيَةٍ

وَخالِداتٍ بِها ضَبحٌ مِنَ النارِ

Now it holds nothing but tent pegs and structures

And ever-blazing coals through it flare.

وَلَو إِلى اِبنِ خُدَيشٍ كانَ مَرحَلُنا

وَاِبنَي دَجاجَةَ قَومٍ كانَ أَخيارِ

Had we been bound for the son of Khudaysh

Or the sons of Dajajah's tribe, they were noble,

وَاِبنِ الحَزَنبَلِ عَمروٍ في رَكِيَّتِهِ

وَماجِدِ العودِ مِن أَولادِ نَجّارِ

Or 'Amr ibn Haznabal in his litter

And Majid, son of a carpenter, of free birth,

لَكِن إِلى جُرثُمَ المَقّاءِ إِذ وَلَدَت

عَبداً لِعِلجٍ مِنَ الحِصنَينِ أَكّارِ

But to Jarthum the mangy when she gave birth

To a slave of 'Ilij of the two castles, most vile.

إِنّي لَذاكِرُ زَيدٍ غَيرُ مادِحِهِ

بِالمَرجِ يَومَ نَزَلنا مَرجَ حَمّارِ

I remember Zayd - no praiser is he -

At Marj the day we halted at Hammar,

أَلحَقتَ زَيداً غَداةَ المَرجِ بِاِبنَتِهِ

إِنَّ اللَئيمَ عَلى مِقدارِهِ جاري

Who joined Zayd the morning after Marj to his daughter:

A villain acts in accord with his villainy!