ضَمانٌ عَلى عَينَيَّ سَقيُ دِيارِكِ

وَإِن لَم تَكوني تَعلَمينَ بِذَلِكِ

Tears upon my eyes are guarantors of watering your home,

Even if you don't know that.

وَقُلتُ لِأَصحابي اِنظُروا هَل بَدا لَكُم

ضَميرُ بِلادٍ غَيَّبَت أُمَّ مالِكِ

And I said to my friends, look, does it seem to you

The conscience of a country has concealed the mother of its ruler?

كَأَنَّ المَطايا إِن غَدَونَ بِسُحرَةٍ

تَرَكنَ أَفاحيصَ القَطا في المَبارِكِ

It's as if the horses, when they set out at dawn

Left the leopards' cubs in the blessed places.

فَلا جَزَعٌ إِن رابَ دَهرٌ بِصَرفِهِ

وَبَدَّلَ حالاً فَالخَطوبُ كَذَلِكِ

So don't be distraught if time's vicissitudes with its changes

Altered a state - such are tribulations.

لَنا إِبِلٌ مِلءُ الفَضاءِ كَأَنَّما

حَمَلنَ التِلاعَ الحُوَّ فَوقَ الحَوارِكِ

We have camels, filling up the horizon, as if they

Carried the hillocks above the ruins.

وَلَكِن إِذا اِغبَرَّ الزَمانُ تَرَوَّحَت

فَجاءَت عَلَيهِ بِالعُروقِ السَوافِكِ

But when the days became dusty, they were scared away,

And swooped down upon them with deadly claws.

أَبَرُّ عَلى الأَعداءِ مِنّي اِبنُ حُرَّةٍ

جَرِيٌّ عَلى الشَحناءِ عَفُّ المَسالِكِ

More dutiful to the enemies than me is the son of Hurra,

Speedy in dangerous places, shunning the roads.

أَقَمتُ لَهُم سوقَ الجِلادِ بِمُنصِلي

وَعَلَّمتُهُم طَعنَ الكُلى بِالنَيازِكِ

I set up for them the market of execution with my swords

And taught them to stab the kidneys with the spears.

وَما العَيشُ إِلّا مُدَّةٌ سَوفَ تَنقَضي

وَما المالُ إِلّا هالِكٌ عِندَ هالِكِ

For life is but a duration that will soon end

And wealth is fleeting, lost with the one who's lost.