جَلَبنا الخَيلَ مِن جَنبَي أَريكٍ

إِلى أَجَلى إِلى ضِلَعِ الرِّجامِ

We brought the horses from either side of the couch

To the most glorious, to the flank of the archer,

بِكُلِّ مُنَفِّقِ الجُرْذانِ مَجرٍ

شَديدِ الأَسْرِ لِلأَعداءِ حامِ

Through every rat's hole, a pass

Severe in bondage to the enemies, protective.

أَصَبْنا مَن أَصَبْنا ثُمَّ فِئْنا

عَلى أَهلِ الشُّرَيفِ إِلى شَمامِ

We hit whom we hit, then we retreated

To the people of nobility, towards Samama.

وَجَدنا مَن يَقودُ يَزيدُ مِنهُمْ

ضِعافَ الأَمرِ غَيرَ ذَوِي نِظامِ

And we found someone leading them - may Yazid be cursed! -

The ignorant ones without discipline.

فَأَجرِ يَزِيدُ مَذمُوماً أَوِ اِنزِعْ

عَلى عَلْبٍ بِأَنفِكَ كَالخِطامِ

So curse Yazid, condemned, or pull away

At his chin with your mouth, like a bridle.

كَأَنَّكَ عَيْرُ سالِئَةٍ ضَروطٍ

كَثيرُ الجَهلِ شَتَّامُ الكِرامِ

You are like the camel-driver of a caravan,

Ignorant, insulting the generous.

وَإِنَّ النَّاسَ قَد عَلِمُوكَ شَيْخاً

تَهَوَّكُ بِالنَّواكَةِ كُلَّ عامِ

And the people certainly know you as an old man

Who babbles nonsense every year.

وَإِنَّكَ مِن هِجاءِ بَنِي تَميمٍ

كَمُزدادِ الغَرامِ إِلى الغَرامِ

You insult the Banu Tamim

Increasingly enamored to enamorment.

هُمُ مَنّوا عَلَيكَ فَلَم تُثِبهُمْ

فَتِيلاً غَيرَ شَتمٍ أَو خِصامِ

They wished you well, but you did not affirm them

With anything but insults or contention.

وَهُمْ تَرَكوكَ أَسلَحَ مِن حُبارَى

رَأَت صَقراً وَأَشرَدَ مِن نَعامِ

And they left you more heavily armed than a lizard

Who saw a falcon and scattered like an ostrich.

وَهُمْ ضَرَبوكَ ذاتَ الرَّأسِ حَتَّى

بَدَت أُمُّ الدِّماغِ مِنَ العِظامِ

And they hit you on the head until

The brain's mother appeared from the bones.

إِذا يَأسُونَها نَشَزَت عَلَيهِمْ

شَرَنبَثةُ الأَصابِع أُمُّ هَامِ

When they despair it, it bristles at them -

The mother of death, fingers like tent pegs.

فَمَنَّ عَلَيكَ أَنَّ الجِلْدَ وارى

غَثِيثَتَها وَإِحرامُ الطَّعامِ

Who did you a favor that skin covered

Its foulness, and the wearing of clothes?

وَهُمْ أَدَّوا إِلَيكَ بَنِي عِدَاءٍ

بِأَفوَقَ ناصِلٍ وَبِشَرِّ ذامِ

And they gave you the sons of enemies -

With prominent incisors and a foul odor.

وَحَيَّيْ جَعفَرٍ وَالحَيَّ كَعْباً

وَحَيَّ بَنِي الوَحِيدِ بلا سَوامِ

And the living Ja'far, and the living Ka'b,

And greet the sons of Wahid without any to greet back.

فَإِنَّا لَم يَكُن ضَبَّاءُ فِينا

وَلا ثَقفٌ وَلا اِبنُ أَبي عِصامِ

For there were no vipers among us,

Nor Thaqif, nor the son of Abi 'Isam.

وَلا فَضحُ الفُضُوحِ وَلا شُيَيمٌ

وَلا سُلْماكُمُ صَمِّي صَمامِ

Nor immoral immorality, nor Shuyaym,

Nor your deaf-mute locking the lock.

قَتَلتُمْ جارَكُمْ وَقَذَفتُمُوهُ

بِأُمِّكُمُ فَما ذَنبُ الغُلامِ

You killed your neighbor and threw him

At your mother - so what is the boy's crime?

أَلا مَن مُبلِغُ الجَرمِيِّ عَنِّي

وَخَيرُ القَولِ صادِقَةُ الكِلامِ

Verily, the one who informs al-Jarami about me -

The best words are the truthful ones.

فَهَلَّا إِذْ رَأَيتَ أَبا مُعاذٍ

وَعُلبَةَ كُنتَ فيها ذا اِنتِقامِ

So why, when you saw Abu Mu'adh

And 'Ulbah, were you not there avenging?

أَراهُ مَجامِعَ الوَرِكَينِ مِنها

مَكانَ السَّرْجِ أُثبِتَ بِالحِزامِ

I see his hips in it

Fixed to the saddle in place of the saddlebags.