مَنَعنا عَلى رَغمِ القَبائِلِ ضَيمَنا

بِمَرهَفَةٍ كَالمِلحِ مُخلَصَةِ الصَقلِ

Despite the tribes, we kept humiliation from ourselves,

With a keen blade, white as salt, polished to purity.

ضَرَبناهُمُ حَتّى اِستَباحَت سُيوفُنا

حِماهُم وَراحوا موجَعينَ مِنَ القَتلِ

We struck them until our swords overran

Their protected ground, and they departed, suffering from the slaughter.

وَرُدَّ سَراةُ الأَوسِ إِذ جاءَ جَمعُهُم

بِطَعنٍ كَأَفواهِ المُخَيَّسَةِ الهُدلِ

The nobles of the Aws were driven back when their host came,

By thrusts like the mouths of penned, drooping-lipped camels.

وَذَلَّ سُمَيرٌ عَنوَةً جارَ مالِكٍ

عَلى رَغمِهِ بَعدَ التَخَمُّطِ وَالجَهلِ

And Sumayr, Malik’s protected neighbor, was humbled by force,

Against his will, after his swaggering and folly.

وَجاءَ اِبنُ عَجلانٍ بِعِلجٍ مُجَدَّعٍ

فَأَدبَرَ مَنقوصَ المَروءَةِ وَالعَقلِ

Ibn Ajlan came with a mutilated foreigner,

Then fled, diminished in manly honor and reason.

وَصارَ اِبنُ عَجلانٍ نَفِيّاً كَأَنَّهُ

عَسيفٌ عَلى آثارِ أَفصِلَةٍ هُملِ

And Ibn Ajlan became an exile, as though he were

A hired hand following the tracks of unattended camel-calves.