إِنّي وَجَدتُ بَني سَهمٍ وَجامِلَهُم

كَالعَنزِ تَعطِفُ رَوقَيها فَتَرتَضِعُ

I found the sons of Sahm and their camel-herd, like a goat bending its horns to suckle itself.

How many a mongrel among them born of a slave, with a scar in her eye and a crook in her foot.

كَم فيهِمُ مِن هَجينٍ أُمُّهُ أَمَةٌ

في عَينَها نَدَعٌ في رِجلِها فَدَعُ

Woe to the mother of Khirq whom Al-Mashraf hailed at Al-Haba'ah—neither a weakling nor timid.

Like a fox roaming at evening, its shoulders soaked with rain; may the limbs be palsied that bear him—how spotted he looks.

وَيلُمِّ خِرقٍ أَهَلَّ المَشرِفُّ بِهِ

عَلى الهَباءَةِ لا نِكسٌ وَلا وَرَعُ

كَالثَعلَبِ الرائِحِ المَمطورِ ضَبعَتُهُ

شُلَّ الحَوامِلُ مِنهُ كَيفَ يَنبَقِعُ