أَعاذلَ عُدَّتي بَزّي وَرُمحي

وكلُّ مُقَلِّصٍ سَلِسِ القِيادِ

My weapons - spear and polished sword - protect me,

And every tight-reined swift steed is my ally.

أَعاذلَ إِنَّما أفنى شبابي

إِجابتي الصَريخ إلى المُنادي

Yet though in youth I wasted all my prime,

My voice still answers those who raise the cry.

مع الأَبطال حتى سُلَّ جسمي

وأَقرَح عاتقي حَملُ النِّجادِ

With heroes have I stood till flesh was hacked

And shoulder furrowed by the arrow’s slide,

وَيبقى بعد حِلمِ القومِ حِلمي

ويفني قبل زادِ القومِ زادي

Wisdom remains when men have spent their wrath,

My provisions ere my people’s own provide.

ومن عَجَبٍ عجبتُ له حديثٌ

بديعٌ ليس من بِدَعِ السَّدادِ

Amazed was I by one whose fluent speech -

No mere vaunt flowing from an empty pate -

تَمَنَّى أَن يلاقيني قُييسٌ

وَدِدتُ وأينما منّي وِدادي

Expressed a wish that he with Qusayr meet.

Wherever was my love, I wished him well.

تَمَنَّاني وسابغتي قميصي

كأَنَّ قَتِيرَها حَدَقُ الجَرَادِ

He wished to meet me clad in my best clothes

As though their patches were a locust’s wing.

وسيفٌ من لَدُن كنعانَ عندي

تُخُيِّرَ نَصلُهُ من عهدِ عادِ

A sword I have, a Canaan blade that flows

From furnace fires in bygone days of Ad.

فَلو لاقيتني لَلَقِيتَ ليثاً

هَصُوراً ذا ظُباً وشَباً حِدادِ

Had he met me, a fierce enraged lion

Of dreadful onset and sharp biting tooth

ولاستيقنت أَنَّ الموت حقٌّ

وصَرَّحَ شحمُ قلبِكَ عن سوادِ

He had met. And had he known death’s certainty

And that his fat heart from all blackness shone,

أُريدُ حَياتَهُ وَيُريد قَتلي

عَذِيرَكَ من خليلِكَ من مُرادِ

My life he sought and I sought his demise.

Seek pardon of your friend for your intent!