لا يُبعِدُ اللَهُ اليَمينَ الَّتي سَقَت

أَبا اللَيلِ تَحتَ اللَيلِ سَجلاً مِنَ الدَمِ

May God never take away the right hand that made

Abū al-Layl, beneath the night, drink a bucketful of blood.

جَلَت حُمَماً عَنها صُباحٌ فَأَصبَحَت

لَها النِصفُ مِن أُحدوثَتي كُلَّ مَوسِمِ

Morning swept the coal-black darkness away from her, and then

half of my tale was hers at every season.

هُمُ القَومُ إِلّا حَيثُ سَلّوا سُيوفَهُم

وَضَحّوا بِلَحمٍ مِن مُحِلٍّ وَمُحرِمِ

They are the people—but whenever they draw their swords,

they sacrifice the flesh of the unconsecrated and the consecrated alike.

هُمُ فَرَّقوا قَبرَيهِما بَعدَ مالِكٍ

وَمَن يَحتَمِل داءَ العَشيرَةِ يَندَمِ

It was they who, after Mālik, set the two graves apart;

and whoever bears the clan’s affliction will regret it.

غَدَت مِن هِلالٍ ذاتُ بَعلٍ سَمينَةٍ

فَآبَت بِثَديٍ باهِلِ الزَوجِ أَيِّمِ

She departed from Hilāl a plump, married woman,

and came back with the breasts of one bereft of her husband—a widow.