Sol 6.1

  1. Sons of Sawwār, if my clothes have grown threadbare,

    And my surplus wealth has failed to sustain the clan,

  2. Then my words are cast aside and abandoned,

    And my relatives and allies shun me.

  3. Was I not among the chiefs of Banū Nuʿaym,

    Dwelling in the tent with tall poles?

  4. And around me was every proud man of Taghlib,

    Scorning indignity, his bounty shared by all:

  5. When the morning meal arrives, he is no help,

    Yet he is of use when spearheads clash.

  6. And they spared me, so I am not one to bow

    To a man of wealth, even till the last of nights,

  7. Nor one to flatter the rich merely so

    I may wipe their food from my moustache.

  8. I am the son of the ʿAnbarī woman; she girded me

    With the waistcloth of noble deeds—my maternal uncle's waistcloth.

  9. So if wealth is glory, then I

    Shall pray to God for lawful sustenance.

Sol 6.1