لَعَمرُكَ ما لاقَيتُ يَومَ مَعيشَةٍ

لَعَمرُكَ ما لاقَيتُ يَومَ مَعيشَةٍ

مِنَ الدَهرِ إِلّا يَومُ شَقراءَ أَقصَرُ

مِنَ الدَهرِ إِلّا يَومُ شَقراءَ أَقصَرُ

By your life, I have never known a day of living

Never in my life have I known a day of livelihood

in all my years shorter than the day of Shaqra.

Except the day of Shaqraa, though it was short

حَوارِيَّةٌ لا يَقرَبُ الذَمُّ بَيتَها

حَوارِيَّةٌ لا يَقرَبُ الذَمُّ بَيتَها

مُطَهَّرَةٌ يَأوي إِلَيها مَطَهَّرُ

مُطَهَّرَةٌ يَأوي إِلَيها مَطَهَّرُ

A fair-skinned woman whose house reproach never nears,

A neighborhood untouched by any blemish

pure, to whom a pure man comes for shelter.

Pure it remains, and the pure take shelter there

وَبَيتٍ كَظَهرِ الفيلِ أَكثَرُ حَشوِهِ

وَبَيتٍ كَظَهرِ الفيلِ أَكثَرُ حَشوِهِ

أَباريقُهُ وَالشارِبُ المُتَقَطِّرُ

أَباريقُهُ وَالشارِبُ المُتَقَطِّرُ

And a house like an elephant's back, whose chief contents

A house like an elephant's back, overstuffed

are its ewers and the drinker toppling over.

Jugs spilling over and dripping drinkers

تَرى فيهِ أَثلامَ الأَصيصِ كَأَنَّهُ

تَرى فيهِ أَثلامَ الأَصيصِ كَأَنَّهُ

إِذا بالَ فيهِ القَومُ جَفرٌ مُعَوَّرُ

إِذا بالَ فيهِ القَومُ جَفرٌ مُعَوَّرُ

You see in it the earthenware pot's chipped edges, as though it were,

You'd think its carpets were the dappled hides

when the men urinate in it, a wide, ruined well.

Of zebras where men piss till humped and deformed