إِذا ما جاءَني رَجُلٌ حُذامٌ

فَإِنَّ القَولَ ما قالَت حَذامِ

Whenever an uncouth man comes my way,

I say: the words that uncouthness would say.

أَرى سَيفَ بنِ ذي يَزَنٍ فَرَتهُ

صُروفُ الدَهرِ بِالسَيفِ الهُذامِ

I see the sword of Ibn Dhi Yazan unsheathed -

The turns of fate by the sharp sword are cleaved.

وَأَذوَت غاضِراً وَرَمَت حِبالاً

سَليلَ أَخي طُلَيحَةَ بِاِنجِذامِ

It moaned bitterly and cast a rope,

A kinsman of Tulaibah with fraying rope.

وَما زَيدُ بنُ حارِثَةٍ حَبيباً

إِلى الحَيِّ المُصَبَّحِ مِن جُذامِ

And Zayd bin Harithah was no beloved

To the brisk living from the withered dead.

أَلَم تَرَ لِاِمرِىء القَيسِ بنِ حِجرٍ

بَكى مُتَشَبِهاً بِفَتى حِذامِ

Did you not see how Imru al-Qais wept

Like a youth of uncouth and coarse repute?

كَذاكَ تَناسِخُ الدُنيا فَمَلّي

مَزادَكَ قَبلَ تَقضيبِ الوِذامِ

Thus is the world's succession, so fill me up

Your provision ere the final rupture.