لاطَت قُرَيشٌ حِياضَ المَجدِ فَاِفتَرَطَت

سَهمٌ فَأَصبَحَ مِنهُ حَوضُها صَفِرا

Quraysh tended glory’s watering pools; then, pressing too far ahead,

went Sahm, and through it her pool was left empty.

وَأَورَدوا وَحِياضُ المَجدِ طامِيَةٌ

فَدَلَّ حَوضَهُمُ الوُرّادُ فَاِنهَدَرا

They came to water while glory’s pools were brimming high;

but when the waterers approached their pool, it sank away.

وَاللَهِ ما في قُرَيشٍ كُلِّها نَفَرٌ

أَكثَرُ شَيخاً جَباناً فاحِشاً غُمُرا

By God, in all Quraysh there is no company

with more old men who are cowardly, obscene, and witless—

أَزَبَّ أَصلَعَ سِفسيراً لَهُ ذَأَبٌ

كَالقِردِ يَعجُمُ وَسطَ المَجلِسِ الحُمَرا

hairy and bald, pimps huge of frame,

like an ape chewing the red thing in the midst of the gathering;

هُذرٌ مَشائيمُ مَحرومٌ ثَوِيُّهُمُ

إِذا تَرَوَّحَ مِنهُم زُوِّدَ القَمَرا

babblers, ill-omened—their guest is left deprived,

and when he leaves them at evening, moonlight is his provision.

أَمّا اِبنُ نابِغَةَ العَبدُ الهَجينُ فَقَد

أُنحي عَلَيهِ لِساناً صارِماً ذَكَرا

As for Ibn Nābigha, that baseborn slave,

my tongue has swooped upon him—a sharp, virile sword.

ما بالُ أُمِّكَ راغَت عِندَ ذي شَرَفٍ

إِلى جَذيمَةَ لَمّا عَفَّتِ الأَثَرا

Why did your mother slip aside at Dhū Sharaf,

toward Judhaymah, when the tracks had disappeared?

ظَلَّت ثَلاثاً وَمِلحانٌ مُعانِقُها

عِندَ الحَجونِ فَما مَلّا وَما فَتَرا

For three she stayed, with Milḥān embracing her,

at al-Ḥajūn; he neither wearied nor slackened.

يا آلَ سَهمٍ فَإِنّي قَد نَصَحتُ لَكُم

لا أَبعَثَنَّ عَلى الأَحياءِ مِن قُبِرا

O house of Sahm, I have indeed counseled you sincerely:

do not raise against the living one who lies buried.

أَلا تَرَونَ بِأَنّي قَد ظُلِمتُ إِذا

كانَ الزِبَعرى لِنَعلي ثابِتٍ خَطَرا

Do you not see that I have indeed been wronged, if

al-Zibaʿrā is reckoned a match for Thābit’s two sandals?

كَم مِن كَريمٍ يَعَضُّ الكَلبُ مِئزَرَهُ

ثُمَّ يَفِرُّ إِذا أَلقَمتَهُ الحَجَرا

How many a noble man has had a dog bite his waistcloth,

only for it to flee when you force a stone into its mouth.

قَولي لَكُم آلَ شِجعٍ سُمُّ مُطرِقَةٍ

صَمّاءُ تَطحَرُ عَن أَنيابِها القَذَرا

My words to you, house of Shujayʿ, are the venom of a lurking snake,

a deaf adder, its fangs spattering venomous drops.

أَمّا هِشامٌ فَرِجلا قَينَةٍ مَجِنَت

باتَت تُغَمِّزُ وَسطَ السامِرِ الكَمَرا

As for Hishām, he is the man of a singing-girl grown shameless;

she spent the night fondling penis-heads amid the evening revelers.

لَولا النَبِيُّ وَقَولُ الحَقِّ مَغضَبَةٌ

لَما تَرَكتُ لَكُم أُنثى وَلا ذَكَرا

Were it not for the Prophet—and truth-telling is cause for anger—

I would have left among you neither female nor male.