أَمّا الحِماسُ فَإِنّي غَيرُ شاتِمِهِم

لا هُم كِرامٌ وَلا عِرضي لَهُم خَطَرُ

As for courage, I do not blame them;

They are neither noble nor do I risk harming them.

قَومٌ لِئامٌ أَقَلَّ اللَهُ عِدَّتَهُم

كَما تَساقَطَ حَولَ الفَقحَةِ البَعَرُ

A base people whose number Allah has diminished,

Like insects falling around an empty camel pen.

كَأَنَّ ريحَهُمُ في الناسِ إِذ بَرَزوا

ريحُ الكِلابِ إِذا ما بَلَّها المَطَرُ

When they appeared before people, their smell

Was like that of dogs soaked by rain.

أَولادُ حامٍ فَلَن تَلقى لَهُم شَبَهاً

إِلّا التُيوسَ عَلى أَكتافِها الشَعَرُ

Descendants of Ham will never have equals

Except monkeys with shaggy hair on their shoulders.

لَم يُنبِتوا فَرعَ خَيرٍ يُذكَرونَ بِهِ

حَتّى يُنَبِّتَ عودَ النَبعَةِ الكَمَرُ

They produced no worthy branches that make them remembered

Until the vitex bush produces sweet camomile.

إِن سابَقوا سُبِقوا أَو نافَروا نُفِروا

أَو كاثَروا أَحَداً مِن غَيرِهِم كُثِروا

Whether they excel or are shunned, flee or amass,

Or proliferate without equal.

شِبهُ الإِماءِ فَلا دينٌ وَلا حَسَبٌ

لَو قامَروا الزَنجَ عَن أَحسابِهِم قُمِروا

Like slave women, without religion or lineage;

Had they gambled with blacks, they would have been cheated.

تَلقى الحِماسِيَّ لا يَمنَعكَ حُرمَتَهُ

شِبهَ النَبيطِ إِذا اِستَعبَدتَهُم صَبَروا

You will find the brave man does not prevent you his inviolability,

Like the Nabateans, if enslaved, they endure.