أوصي تَميماً إِن قُضاعَةَ ساقَها
قَوا الغَيثِ مِن دارٍ بُدومَةَ أَو جَدبِ
I counsel Tamim: if Qudaʿa is driven
from a home at Duma by lack of rain or drought,
إِذا اِنتَجَعَت كَلبٌ عَليكُم فَمَكِّنوا
لَها الدارَ مِن سَهلِ المُباءَةِ وَالشَربِ
if Kalb comes to you seeking pasture, provide
a home for them, with easy camping ground and water to drink.
فَإِنَّهُمُ الأَحلافُ وَالغَيثُ مَرَّةً
يَكونُ بِشَرقٍ مِن بِلادٍ وَمِن غَربِ
For they are allies, and rain sometimes
falls in the east of a land, and sometimes in the west.
أَشَدُّ حِبالٍ بَينَ حَيَّينِ مِرَّةً
حِبالٌ أُمِرَّت مِن تَميمٍ وَمِن كَلبِ
The most firmly twisted cords between two tribes
are cords tightly twisted by Tamim and by Kalb.
وَلَيسَ قُضاعِيٌّ لَدَينا بِخائِفٍ
وَإِن أَصبَحَت تَغلي القُدورُ مِنَ الحَربِ
And no man of Qudaʿa among us is afraid,
even if the cauldrons begin to boil with war.
فَإِنَّ تَميماً لا يُجيرُ عَلَيهِمُ
عَزيزٌ وَلا صِنديدُ مَملَكَةٍ غُلبِ
For no one can grant protection against Tamim—
neither a mighty man nor a champion of a realm of mighty men.
هُمُ المُتَخَلّى أَن يُجارَ عَلَيهُمُ
إِذا اِستَعَرَت عَدوى المُعَبَّدَةِ الجُربِ
They are those against whom all thought of granting protection is abandoned,
when the contagion of tar-smeared, mangy camels flares.
وَأَجسَمُ مِن عادٍ جُسومُ رِجالُهُم
وَأَكثَرُ إِن عُدّوا عَديدَ مِنَ التُربِ
And their men's bodies are larger than those of ʿAd,
and, if counted, they outnumber the grains of dust.
مَصاليتُ عِندَ الرَوعِ في كُلِّ مَوطِنٍ
إِذا شَخِصَت نَفسُ الجَبانُ مِنَ الرُعبِ
Stalwart warriors amid terror, on every battlefield,
when the coward's soul leaps up in dread.
Sol 6.1