لِمَنِ الظُّعْنُ بالضُّحى طافِياتٍ

شِبْهُها الدَّوْمُ أَوْ خَلايا سَفِينِ

For whom are the gazelles wandering at dawn,

Their likeness is smoke or cells of a ship,

جاعِلاتٍ بَطْنَ الضِّباعِ شِمالاً

وبِراقَ النِّعافِ ذاتَ اليَمِينِ

Making the abdomen of the hyenas north,

And the radiance of the graceful ones to the right,

رافعاتٍ رَقْماً تُهالُ لَهُ العَيْـ

ـنُ على كلِّ بازِلٍ مُسْتَكِينِ

Raising a number that seduces the eye

Over every miserable humiliated one,

أَوْ عَلاةٍ قد دُرِّبَتْ دَرَجَ المِشْ

يَةِ حَرْفٍ مِثْلِ المَهاةِ ذَقُونِ

Or trained she-camels who climbed the steps of walking,

With a skill like that of the freely-flowing water,

عامِداتٍ لِخَلِّ سَمْسَمَ ما يَنْ

ظُرْنَ صَوْتاً لِحاجةِ المَحْزُونِ

Supporting to undo the confusion of what they see

A voice for the need of the melancholy one,

أَبْلِغا المُنْذِرَ المُنقِب عَنِّي

غيرَ مُستَعْتِبٍ ولا مُستَعِينِ

Inform the warner, the explorer about me

Neither complaining nor seeking help,

لاتَ هَنَّا ولَيْتَنِي طَرَفَ الزُّجْـ

ـجِ وأَهْلِي بالشَّأْمِ ذاتِ القُرونِ

No, here, and would that I were on the edge of Zhūzh

And my family in Syria, land of spears,

بامْرِىءٍ ما فَعَلْت عَفٍّ يَؤُوسٍ

صَدَقَتْهُ المُنى لِعَوْضِ الحينِ

By a man who has not performed a despairing disappointment

Which opportunity has verified for the sake of the present,

غيرَ مُسْتَسْلِمٍ إذا اعْتَصَرَ العا

جِزُ بالسَّكْتِ في ظِلالِ الهُونِ

Not submissive when the incapable falters

With silence in the shades of disgrace

يُعْمِلُ البازِلَ المُجِدَّة بالرَّحْـ

ـلِ تَشَكَّى النِّجادَ بَعْدَ الحُزُونِ

Who makes the misled camel work with the foot

The weeper complained after the gloomy one

بَفَتىً ناحِفٍ وأَمْرٍ أَحَذٍّ

وحُسامٍ كالمِلْحِ طَوْعِ اليَمينِ

With an emaciated hero and a biting command,

And a sword swift as salt to the right hand