إِنّي حَلَفتُ بِرَبِّ البُدنِ مُشعَرَةً
وَما بِجُمعٍ مِنَ الرُكبانِ وَالظُعُنِ
I swear by the Lord of creation, with veils unfurled,
Not with a caravan or litters are you girded.
لَتَأتِيَنَّ عَلى الدَيّانِ جادِعَةٌ
شَنعاءُ تَبلُغُ أَهلَ السَيفِ مِن عَدَنِ
Ruin will come upon the fort unmanned,
A grim-visaged hag reaching the swordsmen of Aden.
حَتّى يَبيتَ عَلَيهِم حَيزُ أَدرَكَهُم
مِنّا جَوادِعُ قَد أُلحِقنَ بِالسُنَنِ
Till she encamps on them in a circle they attained,
Desolaters from us, who have enacted the wont.
إِنَّ القَوافِيَ لَن يَرجِعنَ فَاِستَمِعوا
إِذا بَلَغنَ شِعابَ الغَورِ ذي القُنَنِ
The verses will not turn back, so hearken ye,
When they attain the gullies of Ghawr, abounding in streams.
لَو وازَنوا حَضَناً مالَت حُلومُهُمُ
بِالراسِياتِ الثِقالِ الشُمِّ مِن حَضَنِ
If they weighed against us a tribe whose warriors inclined
With the heavily-pregnant, fat, fertile women.
كَم فيهِمُ مِن كُهولٍ راجِحينَ بِهِم
يَومَ اللِقاءِ وَشُبّانٍ ذَوي سُنَنِ
How many aged men deciding their fate are among them
On the day they meet, and smooth-faced boys.
بَني الحُصَينِ وَهُم رَدّوا نِساءَكُمُ
عَلَيكُمُ يَومَ غِبٍّ ثابِتِ الدِمَنِ
Sons of Husain, who returned your women to you
On a distant day, with blood-price paid.
رَدّوا عَلَيكُم سَباياكُم مُقَرَّنَةً
وَقَد تُقُسَّمنَ في زَوفٍ وَفي قَرَنِ
They returned to you your prisoners coupled,
Who were allotted among spoils and shared with allies.
كانَت هَوامِلُ في زَوفٍ مُعَطَّلَةً
إِنَّ الهَوابِلَ قَد يَرجِعنَ لِلوَطَنِ
They were pregnant spoils divided in shares,
Truly the pregnant ones will return to the homeland.
كانَ اليَهودُ مَعَ الدَيّانِ دينَهُمُ
وَدينُهُم كانَ شَرَّ الدينِ في الزَمَنِ
The Jews were with the fort, their religion
Was the worst religion in the times.
بَني زِيادٍ رَأَيتُ اللَهَ زادَكُمُ
لُؤماً وَأُمُّكُمُ مَخلوعَةُ الرَسَنِ
Sons of Ziyad, I saw God increase you
Disgrace, and your mother is discarded, shorn.
لا وَالَّذي هُوَ بِالإِسلامِ أَكرَمَنا
وَجاعِلُ المَيتِ بَعدَ المَوتِ في الجَنَنِ
No - by Him who honored us with Islam,
And revives the dead after death into the Gardens.
ما كانَ يَبني بَنو الدَيّانِ مَكرُمَةً
وَلَم تَكُن لِبَني الدَيّانِ مِن حَسَنِ
The sons of the fort were not honorable,
Nor did the sons of the fort have any virtue.
