فِدىً لَكُما رِجلَيَّ أُمِّي وَخالَتِي

غَداةَ الكُلابِ إِذْ تُحَزُّ الدَّوابِرُ

My feet are ransom for my mother and aunt

On the morn when the hounds bayed ferociously

نَجَوتُ نَجاءً لَم يَرَ النَّاسُ مِثلَهُ

كَأَنِّي عُقابٌ عِندَ تَيمَنَ كاسِرُ

I escaped a deliverance the like of which none has seen

As if I were a falcon at timely flight

خُدَارِيَّةٌ سَفْعَاءُ لَبَّدَ ريشَها

مِنَ الطَّلِّ يَومٌ ذو أَهاضيبَ ماطِرُ

A Khudari woman, her disheveled plumage

Drenched by days of ceaseless rain

كَأَنَّا وَقَد حالَت حُذُنَّةُ دونَنا

نَعَامٌ تَلاهُ فارِسٌ مُتَواتِرُ

As if we were ostriches thwarted by the village

With a horseman in hot pursuit

فَمَن يَكُ يَرْجُو فِي تَميمٍ هَوادَةً

فَلَيسَ لِجَرْمٍ في تَمِيمٍ أَوَاصِرُ

So whoever hopes for calm in Tameem

Has no cause in Tameem for stillness

وَلَمَّا سَمِعْتُ الخَيْلَ تَدعو مُقاعِساً

تَطالَعَنِي مِن ثُغرَةِ النَّحْرِ جائِرُ

When I heard the horses calling for battle

An oppressor peered out at me through the throat-slit

فَإِن أَستَطِع لا تَلتَبِسْ بي مُقاعِسٌ

وَلا يَرَنِي مَبدَاهُمُ وَالمَحاضِرُ

If I can, may no battle enmesh me

May its first light not espy me, nor the battlefield

وَلا تَكُ لِي حَدَّادَةٌ مُضَرِيَّةٌ

إِذا ما غَدَت قُوتَ العِيَالِ تُبَادِرُ

May I have no ill-omened mourner woman

When the food of dependents comes morning and night

يَقولُ لِيَ النَّهْدِيُّ إِنَّكَ مُرْدِفي

وَكَيفَ رِدافُ الفَلِّ أُمُّكَ عابِرُ

The Nahdi says to me, you ride pillion

But how can the mare, your mother, be a conveyance

يُذَكِّرُني بِالرَّحمِ بَينِي وَبَينَهُ

وَقَد كانَ في نَهْدٍ وَجَرمٍ تَدابُرُ

He reminds me of the womb-tie between us

Though of old in Nahd we were lands apart

وَلَمَّا رَأَيتُ الخَيلَ تَترَى أَثائِجاً

عَلِمتُ بِأَنَّ اليَومَ أَحمَسُ فاجِرُ

When I saw the horses jostling in throngs

I knew this day would be perilous and unjust