أَلا كَيفَ البَقاءُ لِباهِلِيٍّ
هَوى بَينَ الفَرَزدَقِ وَالجَحيمِ
Alas! How can the ignorant survive
When he has fallen between Farazdaq and Hell?
أَلَستَ أَصَمَّ أَبكَمَ باهِلِيّاً
مَسيلَ قَرارَةِ الحَسَبِ اللَئيمِ
Are you not a deaf mute, O ignorant one,
Shedding the pained tears of despised origins?
أَلَستَ إِذا نُسِبتَ لِباهِلِيٍّ
لَأَلأَمَ مَن تَرَكَّضَ في المَشيمِ
When you are attributed to the ignorant,
I will humiliate those who strut proudly.
وَهَل يُنجي اِبنَ نَخبَةَ حينَ يَعوي
تَناوُلُ ذي السِلاحِ مِنَ النُجومِ
Will the son of an elite tribe survive
When the armed man seizes him from the stars?
أَلَم نَترُك هَوازِنَ حَيثُ هَبَّت
عَلَيهِم ريحُنا مِثلَ الهَشيمِ
Did we not leave Hawazin when our wind
Blew upon them like chaff?
عَشِيَّةَ لا قُتَيبَةَ مِن نِزارٍ
إِلى عَدَدٍ وَلا نَسَبٍ كَريمِ
One evening not Qutaybah of Nizar
Nor a noble lineage with any number.
عَشِيَّةَ زَيَّلَت عَنهُ المَنايا
دِماءَ المُلزَقينَ مِنَ الصَميمِ
One evening when death unveiled for him
The blood of the tenacious from their core.
فَمَن يَكُ تارِكاً ما كانَ شَيئاً
فَإِنّي لا أُضيعُ بَني تَميمِ
So whoever remains as nothing,
I do not fail the clan of Tamim.
أَنا الحامي المُضَمَّنُ كُلَّ أَمرٍ
جَنَوهُ مِنَ الحَديثِ مَعَ القَديمِ
I am the guaranteed protector of every matter,
Its dangers old and new.
فَإِنّي قَد ضَمِنتُ عَلى المَنايا
نَوائِبَ كُلِّ ذي حَدَثٍ عَظيمِ
I have guaranteed against the days of death
The misfortunes of each tremendous event.
وَقَد عَلِمَت مَعَدُّ الفَضلِ أَنّا
ذَوُو الحَسَبِ المَكَمَّلِ وَالحُلومِ
The virtuous Maʿadd knows we
Possess perfect pedigree and forbearance.
وَأَنَّ رِماحَنا تَأبى وَتَحمى
عَلى ما بَينَ عالِيَةٍ وَرومِ
Our spears refuse and protect
All between lofty Syria and Rome.
حَلَفتُ بِشُحَّبِ الأَجسامِ شُعثٍ
قِيامٍ بَينَ زَمزَمَ وَالحَطيمِ
I swore by the unkempt bodies, disheveled hair,
Standing between Zamzam and the Ruins:
لَقَد رَكِبَت هَوازِنُ مِن هِجائي
عَلى حَدباءَ يابِسَةِ العُقومِ
Hawazin rode the barren humps
Of my insults upon slender camels.
