1. أَأَسماءُ لَم تسئَلي عَن أَبيـ

    ـكِ وَالقَومُ قَد كانَ فيهِم خُطوب

    Asma, have you not asked about your father,

    while calamities had befallen the people?

  2. إِنَّ عَريباً وَإِن ساءَني

    أَحَبَّ حَبيبٍ وَأَدنى قَريب

    Indeed, ‘Arib, though he has displeased me,

    is the dearest of loved ones and nearest of kin.

  3. سَأَجعَلُ نَفسي لَهُ جُنَّةً

    بِشاكي السِلاحِ نَهيكٍ أَريب

    I shall make myself a shield for him,

    as one fully armed, stalwart and shrewd.

  4. وَأَهلَكَ مُهرَ أَبيكِ الدَوا

    ءُ لَيسَ لَهُ مِن طَعامٍ نَصيب

    And treatment has ruined your father's colt:

    it has no share of food,

  5. خَلا أَنَّهُم كُلَّما أَورَدوا

    يُضَيَّحُ قَعباً عَلَيهِ ذَنوب

    except that, whenever they bring it to water,

    a bowl of milk is diluted with a whole pail of water.

  6. فَيُصبِحُ حاجِلَةً عَينُهُ

    لِحِنوِ اِستِهِ وَصَلاهُ غُيوب

    So by morning its eye is sunken,

    with hollows at its rump's curve and in its loins.

  7. فَأَعدَدتُ عَجلى لِحُسنِ الدَوا

    ءِ لَم يَتَلَمَّس حَشاها طَبيب

    So I readied ‘Ajla for proper treatment—

    no physician had palpated her belly.

  8. أَخي وَأَخوكِ بِبَطنِ النُسَي

    رِ لِيسَ بِهِ مِن مَعَدٍّ عَريب

    My brother—and yours—is in the valley of al-Nusayr,

    where not a soul of Ma‘add is found.

  9. فَأَقسَمَ بِاللَهِ لا يَأتَلي

    وَأَقسمَتُ أَن نِلتُهُ لا يَؤوب

    So he swore by God he would spare no effort,

    and I swore: if I reached him, he would not return.

  10. فَأَقبَلَ نَحوي عَلى قُدرَةٍ

    فَلَمّا دَنا صَدَقَتهُ الكَذوب

    Then he advanced toward me in full strength,

    and when he drew near, the Liar proved true to him.

  11. أَحالَ بِها كَفَّهُ مُدبِراً

    وَهَل يُنجِيَنَّكَ شَدٌّ وَعيب

    He turned his hand to it as he retreated—

    and can a wide-striding gallop save you?

  12. فَتَبَّعتُهُ طَعنَةً ثَرَّةً

    يَسيلُ عَلى الوَجهِ مِنها صَبيب

    So I followed him with a gushing lance-thrust,

    from which a torrent flows over the ground.

  13. فَإِن قَتَلَتهُ فَلَم آلُهُ

    وَإِن يَنجُ مِنها فَجُرحٌ رَغيب

    If it killed him, I spared him nothing;

    and if he survives it, the wound is gaping.

  14. وَإِن يَلقَني بَعدَها يَلقَني

    عَلَيهِ مِنَ الذُلِّ ثَوبٌ قَشيب

    And if he meets me after it, he will meet me

    with a new robe of humiliation upon him.