قُل لذوي سيفٍ وسيف ألستُم

قُل لذوي سيفٍ وسيف ألستُم

أقلَّ بني سعدٍ حصاداً ومزرعا

أقلَّ بني سعدٍ حصاداً ومزرعا

Tell Sayf’s kin, and Sayf: are you not

Say to those with swords and sword, are you not

the poorest of Saʿd’s sons in harvest and farmland?

The least of the sons of Saad in harvest and farm

كأنكم جعلانُ دارٍ مُقامةٍ

كأنكم جعلانُ دارٍ مُقامةٍ

على عذرات الحيّ أصبحنَ وقّعا

على عذرات الحيّ أصبحنَ وقّعا

You are like dung beetles of a settled dwelling,

As though you made Dar's dwelling a standing place

perched by morning on the clan’s excrement.

Upon the excuses of the living you placed a seal

لقد نالَ سيفُ في سجستان نُهزةً

لقد نالَ سيفُ في سجستان نُهزةً

تطاول منها فوق ما كان إصبعا

تطاول منها فوق ما كان إصبعا

Sayf indeed gained a windfall in Sijistan,

Indeed the sword gained in Sijistan a defeat

through which he grew a finger’s breadth taller than before.

That stretched over what was before only a finger

أصباَ الزناد الخمرَ حتى لقد نَمَت

أصباَ الزناد الخمرَ حتى لقد نَمَت

له سُرّةٌ تُسقى الشرابَ المشعشَعا

له سُرّةٌ تُسقى الشرابَ المشعشَعا

The “fire-steel” found wine, until indeed there grew

Asad poured the wine until he was intoxicated

on him a navel, watered with diluted wine.

For him a secret that quenches insatiable drinking

فلولا هوانُ الخمر ما ذُقتَ طعمَها

فلولا هوانُ الخمر ما ذُقتَ طعمَها

ولا شُقنتَ إبريقاً بكفّك مترعا

ولا شُقنتَ إبريقاً بكفّك مترعا

Were wine not cheap, you would not have tasted its flavor,

If not for the disgrace of wine you'd not taste it

nor had a brimming ewer placed in your hand,

Nor tip a flask with your palm being greedy

كما لم يذقها أن تكون عزيزةً

كما لم يذقها أن تكون عزيزةً

أبوك ولم يُعرَض عليها فيطمعا

أبوك ولم يُعرَض عليها فيطمعا

just as he never tasted it, because it was costly—

Just as he did not taste it though noble

your father—nor was he brought near it to covet it.

Your father and was not presented to him to covet

وكان مكان الكلب أو من ورائه

وكان مكان الكلب أو من ورائه

إذا ما المُغَنّى للذاذةِ أسمعا

إذا ما المُغَنّى للذاذةِ أسمعا

And his place was the dog’s, or behind it,

And was in place of the dog or behind him

whenever the singer sang to give delight.

When singers sang the pleasures he heard