حَولي تَنفُضُ اِستُكَ مِذرَوَيها

لِتَقتُلَني فَها أَنا ذا عُمارا

Around me your spears quiver

To kill me, yet here I stand, still alive

مَتى ما تَلقَني فَردَينِ تَرجُف

رَوانِفُ أَليَتَيكَ وَتُستَطارا

Whenever you charge at me, my steed trembles

The wings of your vultures flutter and are deployed

وَسَيفي صارِمٌ قَبَضَت عَلَيهِ

أَشاجِعُ لا تَرى فيها اِنتِشارا

My sword is sharp, I grasp it

A fierce weapon that knows no retreat

وَسَيفي كَالعَقيقَةِ وَهوَ كِمعي

سِلاحي لا أَفَلَّ وَلا فُطارا

My sword is like carnelian and it glistens like water

My weapon that never fails nor breaks

وَكَالوَرَقِ الخِفافِ وَذاتُ غَربٍ

تَرى فيها عَنِ الشِرَعِ اِزوِرارا

As light as a leaf, yet fierce in combat

You see it flash and swerve from the law

وَمُطَّرِدُ الكُعوبِ أَحَصُّ صَدقٌ

تَخالُ سِنانَهُ بِاللَيلِ نارا

The charger of the heights, its truth proven

Its blades in the night seem like fire

سَتَعلَمُ أَيِّنا لِلمَوتِ أَدنى

إِذا دانَيتَ لي الأَسَلَ الحِرارا

You will know which of us is closer to death

When you bring the hot iron near me

وَلِلرُعيانِ في لُقُحٍ ثَمانٍ

تُحادِثُهُنَّ صَرّاً أَو غِرارا

And for the sheep in Luqah numbering eight

I converse with them intensely or softly

أَقامَ عَلى حَسيسَتِهِنَّ حَتّى

لَقِحنَ وَنَتَّجَ الأُخَرَ العِشارا

He stayed over their fertile pastures

Until they were impregnated and bore offspring

وَقِظنَ عَلى لَصافِ وَهُنَّ غُلبٌ

تَرِنُّ مُتونُها لَيلاً ظُؤارا

They woke up in the dense grasses, overwhelmed

Their udders swelling in the night

وَمَنجوبٌ لَهُ مِنهُنَّ صَرعٌ

يَميلُ إِذا عَدَلتَ بِهِ الشَوارا

And one of them has epilepsy from this

It staggers when you startle it

أَقَلُّ عَلَيكَ ضَرّاً مِن قَريحٍ

إِذا أَصحابُهُ ذَمَروهُ سارا

I am less harmful to you than a professional poet

When his friends reproach him, he travels by night

وَخَيلٍ قَد دَلَفتُ لَها بِخَيلٍ

عَلَيها الأُسدُ تَهتَصِرُ اِهتِصارا

And horses I have confronted with horses

Upon them the lion pants heavily