لا فَضلُ إِلّا فَضلُ أُمٍّ عَلى اِبنِها
كَفَضلِ أَبي الأَشبالِ عِندَ الفَرَزدَقِ
There is no merit but a mother's merit over her son
Like the merit of the father of cubs to Al-Farazdaq
تَدارَكَني مِن هُوَّةٍ كانَ قَعرُها
ثَمانينَ باعاً لِلطَويلِ العَشَنَّقِ
She saved me from a pit whose bottom
Was eighty armspans down for the tall long-necked one
إِذا ما تَرامَت بِاِمرِئٍ مُشرِفاتُها
إِلى قَعرِها لَم يَدرِ مِن أَينَ يَرتَقي
When its precipices concur against a person
He wouldn't know from where to climb
طَليقُ أَبي الأَشبالِ أَصبَحتُ شاكِراً
لَهُ شِعرُ نُعمى فَضلُها لَم يُرَنَّقِ
Emancipated by my father the cubs, grateful have I become
To him, my gratitude's poetry did not feign
أَبَعدَ الَّذي حَطَّمتَ عَنّي وَبَعدَما
رَأَيتُ المَنايا فَوقَ عَينَيَّ تَلتَقي
After you broke what distanced me, and after I saw
Death's imminence over my eyes converge
حَطَمتَ قُيودي حَطمَةً لَم تَدَع لَها
بِساقَيَّ إِذ حَطَّمتَها مِن مُعَلَّقِ
You broke my shackles with a smashing that left
No trace on my legs when you smashed the suspended
لَعَمري لَئِن حَطَّمتَ قَيدي لَطالَما
مَشَيتُ بِقَيدي راسِفاً غَيرَ مُطلَقِ
By my life, if you smashed my shackle, for long have I
Walked in shackles, not freed
سَتَسمَعُ ما أُثني عَلَيكَ إِذا اِلتَقَت
غَرائِبُ تَأتي كُلَّ غَربٍ وَمَشرِقِ
You will hear what I praise you with when
Strangers from every west and east converge
فَأَنتَ سَواءٌ وَالسِماكُ إِذا اِلتَقى
عَلى مُمحِلٍ بِالوائِلِ المُتَعَسِّقِ
You're equal whether the elevation when converged on
By the wailers on a litter of the miserable one
وَلَستُ بِناسٍ فَضلُ رَبّي وَنِعمَةً
خَرَجتُ بِها مِن كُلِّ مَوتٍ مُحَدِّقِ
I'm not people whose Lord's merit and bounty
I left every death with converging
وَما مِن بَلاءٍ مِثلُ نَفسٍ رَدَدتَها
إِلى حَيثُ كانَت وَهيَ عِندَ المُخَنَّقِ
No ordeal's like a soul you returned
To where it was when choked
وَإِنَّ أَبا الأَشبالِ أَلبَسَني لَهُ
عَلَيَّ رِداءَ الأَمنِ لَم يَتَخَرَّقِ
Father of cubs clothed me in it
The gown of safety that did not rip
وَفَضلُ أَبي الأَشبالِ عِندي كَوابِلٌ
عَلى أَثَرِ الوَسمِيِّ لِلأَرضِ مُغدِقِ
And father of cubs' merit to me like cables
Over the tattooist's trace on earth streaming
وَإِنَّ أَبا أُمّي وَجَدّي أَبا أَبي
وَلَيلى عَلَوا بي ساعِدَي كُلَّ مُرتَقي
And my maternal and paternal grandfather and Layla
Raised their arms with me, every climber
