إِن أَدعَ مسكيناً فاني ابن معشر

من الناس أَحمي عنهم وأَذودُ

If I call a poor man, I protect him

From people, shielding him from harm

إِليكَ أَمير المؤمنين رحلتها

تثير القطا ليلا وهن هجودُ

To you, O Commander of the Faithful, her journey

Stirs the sand grouse at night while they are settled

لَدى كل قرموص كأَنَّ فراخه

كُلى غير أَن كانَت لهن جلودُ

Near every partridge, as if their chicks

Were all voiceless, though they had feathers

وَهاجرة ظلت كأَنَّ ظباءَها

إِذا ما اتقتها بالقرون سجودُ

The migrant ostrich seemed as if her chicks

When they sensed danger, bowed down in worship

تَلوذ لشؤبوب من الشمس فوقها

كَما لاذ من حر السنان طَريدُ

Taking refuge in an acacia from the sun above

As one in peril takes refuge in a helper

أَلا لَيتَ شعري ما يَقول ابنُ عامر

وَمروان أَم ماذا يَقول سَعيدُ

Oh, would that I knew what Ibn Aamer says

And what, I wonder, Sa'eed has to tell

بَني خلفاء اللَه مهلا فانما

يبوءها الرحمن حيث يريدُ

O House of Allah's Caliphs, gently, gently,

The Merciful will make it be where He wills

إِذا المنبر الغَربي خلاه ربه

فان امير المؤمنين يزيدُ

When its Lord left the western pulpit empty

The Commander of the Faithful Yazeed appears

على الطائر الميمون والجد صاعد

لكل أُناس طائر وجدودُ

Upon the auspicious bird, by ancestry exalted

For every people a bird and sires of note

فَلا زلت اعلى الناس كعباً ولا تزل

وفود تساميها إِليك وفودُ

So you remain highest of men in glory, and throngs

Still come to you, delegations in a flood

ولا زالَ بيت الملك فوقك عالياً

تشيد أَطناب له وعمودُ

The royal house still towers high above you

Buttresses erected for it, columns hewed

قدور ابن حربٍ كالجوابي وتحتها

أَثافٍ كأَمثال الرئال ركودُ

Cooking pots of Harb's son like rain tanks

And under them embers like hillsides subdued