1. لَعَمري لَئِن أَمسى يَزيدُ بنُ نَهشَلٍ

    حَشا جَدَثٍ تُسفي عَلَيهِ الرَوائِحُ

    By my life, though Yazid ibn Nahshal has come to lie

    Within a grave over which evening winds scatter dust,

  2. لَقَد كانَ مِمَّن يَبسُطُ الكَفَّ بِالنَدى

    إِذا ضَنَّ بِالخَيرِ الأَكُفُّ الشَحائِحُ

    He was indeed among those who stretched out their palms in generosity

    When miserly hands withheld their bounty.

  3. فَبَعدَكَ أَبدى ذو الضَغينَةِ ضِغنَهُ

    وَشَدَّ لِيَ الطَرفَ العُيونُ الكَواشِحُ

    So after you, the bearer of rancor revealed his rancor,

    And hostile eyes fixed their gaze on me.

  4. ذَكَرتُ الَّذي ماتَ النَدى عِندَ مَوتِهِ

    بِعاقِبَةٍ إِذ صالِحُ العَيشِ طالِحُ

    I recalled the man at whose death generosity died,

    In later days, when the good of life had turned bitter.

  5. إِذا آرِقٌ أَفنى مِنَ اللَيلِ ما مَضى

    تَمَطّى بِهِ ثِنيٌ مِنَ اللَيلِ راجِحُ

    When a sleepless man has spent the hours of night already past,

    Another heavy fold of night stretches out over him.

  6. لِيَبكِ يَزيدَ ضارِعٌ لِخُصومَةٍ

    وَمُختَبِطٌ مِمّا تُطيحُ الطَوائِحُ

    Let one humbled by a dispute weep for Yazid,

    And a suppliant whom calamities have cast down.

  7. سَقى جَدَثاً أَمسى بِدَومَةَ ثاوِياً

    مِنَ الدَلوِ وَالجَوزاءِ غادٍ وَرائِحُ

    May a grave now lying at Dawma be watered

    By morning and evening rain from the Bucket and al-Jawza.

  8. عَرا بَعدَما جَفَّ الثَرى عَن نِقابِهِ

    بِعَصماءَ تَدري كَيفَ تَمشي المَنائِحُ

    He came seeking bounty after the earth had dried from his face-veil,

    With a flawless ode that knows how gifted milk-beasts walk.