لَمّا رَأَيتُ اللَيلَ قَد تَشَزَّرا

عَنّي وَعَن مَعروفِ صُبحٍ أَسفَرا

When I saw the night had looked askance,

retreating from me as a familiar dawn shone forth,

كَسَوتُ كَفّي دُستُباناً مُشعَرا

فَروَةَ سِنجابٍ لُؤاماً أَوبَرا

I clothed my hand in a fur-lined glove,

of squirrel skin, well-fitted and shaggy,

تَقي بَنانَ الكَفِّ لا تَخصُرا

وَغَمزَةَ البازي إِذا ما طَفَرا

to guard my fingertips from the biting cold,

and from the goshawk's grip whenever he lunges.

قَسَمتُ فيهِ الكَفَّ إِلّا الخِنصَرا

أَعدَدتُ لِلبُغثانِ حَتفاً مُمقِرا

I partitioned the hand inside it, all but the pinky,

and prepared a bitter doom for the bustards:

أَبرَشَ بَطنانَ الجَناحِ أَقمَرا

أَرقَطَ ضاحي الدَفَّتَينِ أَنمَرا

A bird speckled beneath the wings, bright as the moon,

dappled, his flanks exposed, marked like a leopard.

كَأَنَّ شِدقَيهِ إِذا تَضَوَّرا

صُدغانِ مِن عَرعَرَةٍ تَفَطَّرا

As though the corners of his mouth, when he cries out,

were fissures splitting open in a juniper knot.

كَأَنَّ عَينَيهِ إِذا ما أَثأَرا

فَصّانِ قُضّا مِن عَقيقٍ أَحمَرا

As though his eyes, when he locks his gaze,

were two gems cut from red carnelian,

في هامَةٍ عَلياءَ تَهدي مِنسَرا

كَعَطفَةِ الجيمِ بِكَفِّ أَعسَرا

set in a lofty skull guiding a beak

like the curve of the letter Jeem drawn by a left hand.

يَقَولُ مَن فيها بِعَقلٍ فَكَّرا

لَو زادَها عَيناً إِلى فاءٍ وَرا

One who contemplates him with wisdom says:

"If one added an 'Ayn, a Fa, and a Ra,

فَاِتَصَلَت بِالجيمِ كانَت جَعفَرا

فَالطَيرُ يَلقاهُ مِدَقّاً مُدسِرا

and joined them to the Jeem, it would spell Ja'far."

Thus the prey birds meet in him a crusher, a piercer.