أَلَم يَكُن في وُسومٍ قَد وَسَمتُ بِها
مَن حانَ مَوعِظَةٌ يا حارِثَ اليَمَنِ
Was there not, in the brands with which I branded
Did you not bear the marks with which I branded
those whose doom had come, a warning, O Harith of Yemen?
Him whose admonition was opportune, O Hārith of Yemen?
إِنَّ القَصائِدَ قَد جازَت غَرائِبُها
ما بَينَ مِصرَ إِلى الأَجزاعِ مِن عَدَنِ
Indeed, the poems’ rare wonders have travelled
The poems have indeed exhausted their wonders,
from Egypt to the valley bends of Aden.
From Egypt to the trunks of ‘Adan.
يُخزي اليَمانِيَةَ المُخضَرَّ عَرمَضُها
تَجريدُ لا طَيِّبٍ مِنها وَلا حَسَنِ
The Yemenis, whose pond-scum has turned green, are shamed
The greenness of her oryx saddles shames al-Yamanīyah;
by laying bare what is neither good nor fair among them.
They are bare, with neither fragrance nor beauty.
تَلقى حِياضَ بَني الدَيّانِ مُترَعَةً
وَغالَ حَوضَكَ خُبثُ الماءِ وَالعَطَنِ
You find the watering pools of the sons of al-Dayyan brimful,
They come to the cisterns of Banū al-Dayyān all speckled,
while foulness in the water and the camels’ watering-ground has spoiled your pool.
While foul water and stench have defiled your cistern.
إِنّا وَجَدنا قَنانَ اللُؤمِ إِذ نَبَتوا
أَصلاً خَبيثاً وَفَرعاً بادِيَ الأُبَنِ
We found the pinnacles of baseness, when they sprouted,
We have found the jars of meanness, when they sprouted,
a vile root and a branch with plainly visible knots.
An evil stock and branches manifestly rotten.
أَمسى سَراةُ بَني الدَيّانِ ناصِيَةً
وَاللُؤمُ يَأوي إِلَيكُم يا بَني قَطَنِ
The nobles of the sons of al-Dayyan now stand as the forelock,
The herd of Banū al-Dayyān has become a watering place,
and baseness takes refuge with you, O sons of Qatan.
While meanness takes refuge with you, O Banū Qaṭan!
Sol 6.1