أَغَرَّ أَيّامِيَ مِنّي ذا الطَلَل

وَأَنَّها ما حَمَّلَتني أَحتَمِل

The ruins have beguiled me away from myself

And that they have not burdened me to endure

وَأَنَّني بَقِيَّةُ البُزلِ الأُوَل

قَد يَجسُرُ العَودُ عَلى طولِ العَمَل

And that I am but a remnant of the first adventurers

Perchance the tent-pole may prevail upon the toil of pitching

شَيبٌ وَما جُزتُ الثَلاثينَ نَزَل

نُزولَ ضَيفٍ بِبَخيلٍ ذي عِلَل

Grey hairs, and I have not yet reached thirty

The coming of a guest to a niggardly host of ills

يَصرِفُ عَنهُ السَمعَ إِن رَغا الجَمَل

وَلا يَقولُ إِن أَناخَ حَيَّ هَل

Who turns his hearing away if the camel brays,

And says not, though the live coal fall: "Care!"

كَأَنَّهُ لَمّا طَرا عَلى عَجَل

سَوادُ نَبتٍ عَمَّهُ بَياضُ طَل

As though when he alighted in haste

Black growth that hoariness has entirely overgrown

يَجيءُ بِالهَمِّ وَيَمضي بِالأَجَل

فَأوهِ إِن حَلَّ وَواهاً إِن رَحَل

He brings anxiety and departs with death

So alas if he tarries and woe if he departs

أَبَدَلٌ مِنَ الشَبابِ لا بَدَل

سِرعانَ ما رَقَّ الأَديمُ وَنَغِل

A substitute for youth but no substitute

Swiftly the hide was incised and thickened

هَل يَنفَعَنّي في الوِهادِ وَالقُلَل

مَدُّ العَلابِيِّ مِنَ النوقِ الذُلُل

Will it avail me in the valleys and hills

To extend the water-skins of the docile camels

في فِتيَةٍ عَوَّدَهُم جَوبُ السُبُل

أَن يَشرَبوا ماءَهُم عَلى المَقَل

For lads whom open spaces have inured

To drink their water from the bowl

يَنضونَ بِاللَيلِ غُلالاتِ الكَسَل

وَيَستَسِلّونَ الكَرى مِنَ المُقَل

They wrap themselves in coverings of sloth at night

And flash their shanks bare of entangling robes

إِذا دُعوا لِلطَعنِ وَالخَطبُ جَلَل

حَسِبتَ أَيديهِم مِنَ القَنا الذُبُل

If they are summoned to the raiding and the sublime words

You would think their arms were rotten palm-fiber

يُبقونَ آثاراً مِنَ الطَعنِ نَجَل

مِن كُلِّ فَوهاءَ كَما ضَغَّ الوَعِل

They leave behind traces of raids uneffaced

From every spittle-lathering mouth, as the hyena mumbled

يَطمَعُ في حامِلِها السِمعُ الأَزَل

يَقولُ مَن عايَنَها مِنَ الوَجَل

Hoping in her who bore them hearing without end

"Thus," says he who beheld them in fright, "the raider neither blind nor lame!"

كَذا الطِعانُ لا عَمىً وَلا شَلَل

في كُلِّ يَومٍ أَنا مِخماصُ الأُصُل

Every day I hamstring the hyena

And eat with the fox the entrails of camels

آكُلُ بِالمَيسِ غَوارِبَ الإِبِل

أَهدُمُ ما يَبني السَنامُ وَالكَفَل

I demolish what the brindled lizard and jerboa build

Among the tracks of the grouse and the sand

بَينَ عَجاريفِ العَنيقِ وَالرَمَل

مُشتَمِلاً بُردَ الجَنوجَبِ وَالشَمَل

Wrapped in the cloak of striped Yemen cloth and the mantle

Viewing with the jackal of flaming tail

وَطالِعاً مَعَ الشَميطِ ذي الشُعَل

وَغارِباً مَعَ الظَلامِ وَالطَفَل

And vanishing with the darkness and the whelp

Exposing myself to livelihood while earning a living is harder

تَعَرُّضاً لِلرِزقِ وَالرِزقُ أَشَل

وَشَنجِ الكَفِّ إِذا قيلَ بَذَل

And tight-fistedness if it be said "Give!"

Restore what the days have given you pure and limpid

رِد ما سَقاكَ الدَهرُ عَلّاً وَنَهَل

وَما حَذَتكَ النائِباتُ فِاِنتَعِل

And what disasters have stripped you, discard

While you remain squatting upon the saddle-skins of camels

ما دُمتَ جَثّاماً عَلى نِضوِ الإِبِل

مُسَوَّفاً في كُلِّ يَومٍ بِالرِحَل

Lingering each day over departing

Whoever shuns raiding will not be given largesse

مَن لَم يُعانِ الغَزوَ لَم يُعطَ النَفَل

قَدِ اِنقَضى العُمرُ وَأَنتَ في شَغَل

Your life has passed while you are occupied

Venture upon the terrors if you are a man

فَاِجسُر عَلى الأَهوالِ إِن كُنتَ رَجُل

وَنَل بِأَطرافِ القَنا ما لَم يُنَل

And attain with the points of spears what none attained

Whoever seeks glory without the sword earns shame

مَن طَلَبَ العِزَّ بِغَيرِ السَيفِ ذَل

وَاِمشِ إِلى المَجدِ وَلَو عَلى الأَسَل

Press on toward glory, even if on all fours

And escape disgrace as the hero escapes

وَاِنجُ مِنَ الهَونِ كَما يَنجو البَطَل

مَن لَم يَئِل مِن بَعدِها فَلا وَأَل

He who does not weaken after it, no anguish for him!