إِن تَقتُلوا مِنّا خِداشاً فَإِنَّها

عَلى إِرثِ أَضغانٍ لَكُم وَذُحولِ

If you kill Khidāsh, one of us, then the deed

rests on your inheritance of grudges and blood-debts.

قَتَلنا زِياداً وَالفَصيلَ وَثابِتاً

وَعَبدَةَ عَضَّ السَيفُ بَعدَ جَميلِ

We killed Ziyād, al-Faṣīl, and Thābit,

and ʿAbda—the sword bit him after Jamīl.

أُلاءِ وَأَنتُم تَفخَرونَ بِواحِدٍ

وَقَد ناءَ مِنكُم خَمسَةٌ بِقَتيلِ

These are they—while you boast of a single man,

though five of you have borne the weight of one man slain.

وَكَأيِن بَعَثنا مِنكُمُ مِن مُرِنَّةٍ

بَلابِلُها في الصَدرِ غَيرُ قَليلِ

How many a wailing widow among you have we roused,

the turmoil within her breast no small thing,

إِذا أَترَفَتها عَبرَةٌ بَعدَ عَبرَةٍ

وَقامَ النَواعي رَجَّعَت بِعَويلِ

when tear after tear overcame her,

and the death-criers rose, and she answered with a wail.