أَكانَ الباهِلِيُّ يَظُنُّ أَنّي
سَأَقعُدُ لا يُجاوِزُهُ سِبابي
Did Al-Bahili think that I
Would sit still while his abuse surpassed me?
فَإِنّي مِثلُهُ إِن لَم أُجاوِز
إِلى كَعبٍ وَرابِيَتَي كِلابِ
Nay, I am like him - if I did not surpass
Him to the heel and stirrup of my hounds -
أَأَجعَلُ دارِماً كَاِبنَي دُخانٍ
وَكانا في الغَنيمَةِ كَالرِكابِ
Shall I make Darim like the two sons of Dukhan
When they were but spoils upon the camel’s back?
وَلَو سَيَّرتُمُ فيمَن أَصابَت
عَلى القَسِماتِ أَظفاري وَنابي
Had you made those whom my claws and fangs
Struck in the shares of booty pass in review,
إِذاً لَرَأَيتُمُ عِظَةً وَزَجراً
أَشَدَّ مِنَ المُصَمِّمَةِ العِضابِ
You would have seen a lesson and deterrent
Fiercer than the resolute, biting she-camel.
إِذا سَعدُ بنُ زَيدِ مَناةَ سالَت
بِأَكثَرِ في العَديدِ مِنَ التُرابِ
When Sa‘d ibn Zayd died, the ground was
Soaked with more of his blood than dust.
رَأَيتَ الأَرضَ مَغضِيَةً بِسَعدٍ
إِذا فَرَّ الذَليلُ إِلى الشِعابِ
You would think, when the baseborn fled to the crags,
That the earth was angry at Sa‘d.
وَإِنَّ الأَرضُ تَعجَزُ عَن رِجالٍ
وَهُم مِثلُ المُعَبَّدَةِ الجِرابِ
Yet the earth is too weak for men
Like the fully-loaded camel lithe of gait.
رَأَيتُ لَهُم عَلى الأَقوامِ فَضلاً
بِتَوطاءِ المَناخِرِ وَالرِقابِ
I have seen them lord it over tribes
With the bending of nostrils and necks.
أَباهِلَ أَينَ مَنجاكُم إِذا ما
مَلَأنا بِالمُلوكِ وَبِالقِبابِ
Abu Hilal, where shall be your refuge when
We fill it with kings and highborn chiefs?
تِهامَةَ وَالبِطاحَ إِذا سَدَدنا
بِخِندِفَ مِن تِهامَةَ كُلَّ بابِ
When we block the passes of Tihama
And the plain of Al-Bitaḥ with a barricade?
فَما أَحَدٌ مِنَ الأَقوامِ عَدّوا
عُروقَ الأَكرَمينَ عَلى اِنتِسابِ
None of the tribes has ever counted
The pedigrees of the noblest by ancestry,
بِمُحتَفِظينَ إِن فَضَّلتُمونا
عَلَيهِم في القَديمِ وَلا غِضابِ
Allowing that you are superior to them
In ancient times without any doubt.
وَلَو رَفَعَ الإِلَهُ إِلَيهِ قَوماً
لَحِقنا بِالسَماءِ مَعَ السَحابِ
Had God raised up a people to Him,
We would have flown to heaven with the clouds.
وَهَل لِأَبيكَ مِن حَسَبٍ يُسامي
مُلوكَ المالِكَينِ ذَوي الحِجابِ
What ancestry has your father to compare
With the sovereigns of the Malays veiled in awe?
