أَلا هَل أَتاها أَنَّ يَومَ عُراعِرٍ

شَفى سَقَماً لَو كانَتِ النَفسُ تَشتَفي

Alas, have they not been told that a day of raging

Would heal an illness were the soul seeking healing?

فَجِئنا عَلى عَمياءَ ما جَمَعوا لَنا

بِأَرعَنَ لا خَلٍّ وَلا مُتَكَشِّفِ

Yet we came upon the blind ones in what they had gathered for us

With the bleating of neither fettered lambs nor unveiled women.

تَمارَوا بِنا إِذ يَمدُرونَ حِياضَهُم

عَلى ظَهرِ مَقصِيٍّ مِنَ الأَمرِ مُحصَفُ

They refused us when they were milking their camels

On the back of a weaner, one dismissed from command, scabby.

وَما نَذِروا حَتّى غَشَينا بُيوتَهُم

بِغَبيَةِ مَوتٍ مُسبَلِ الوَدقِ مُزعِفِ

They did not vow until we entered their houses

With the stupidity of death, its weapon belts unencumbered.

فَظَلنا نَكُرُّ المَشرَفِيَّةَ فيهِمُ

وَخُرصانَ لَدنِ السَمهَرِيِّ المُثَقَّفِ

So we remained overturning the honorable ones among them

And the guts of plump creatures made docile and cultivated.

عُلالَتُنا في كُلِّ يَومٍ كَريهَةٍ

بِأَسيافِنا وَالقَرحُ لَم يَتَقَرَّفِ

Our illness on every miserable day

With our swords as the wounds had yet to heal.

أَبَينا فَلا نُعطي السَواءَ عَدُوُّنا

قِياماً بِأَعضادِ السَراءِ المُعَطَّفِ

We refused to grant equality to our enemy

While upright with the staves of well-being and cloaked.

بِكُلِّ هَتوفٍ عُجسُها رَضَوِيَّةٍ

وَسَهمٍ كَسَيرِ الحِميَرِيِّ المُؤَنَّفِ

With every roar whose hoarseness was becoming

And arrows swift as the galloping Yemeni poet's output.

فَإِن يَكُ عِزٌّ في قُضاعَةَ ثابِتٌ

فَإِنَّ لَنا بِرَحرَحانَ وَأَسقُفِ

And if honor remains firm in Ghatafan

We have in Kirman and Askof

كَتائِبَ شُهباً فَوقَ كُلِّ كَتيبَةٍ

لِواءٌ كَظِلِّ الطائِرِ المُتَصَرِّفِ

Regiments like the shooting stars above each regiment

A banner like the hovering bird's shadow wavering about.

وَغادَرنَ مَسعوداً كَأَنَّ بِنَحرِهِ

شَقيقَةَ بُردٍ مِن يَمانٍ مُفَوَّفِ

They left Mus'ud as if in his breast

Were the chill of a Yemeni coat of mail interlocking.