1. وَرَكوبٍ تَعزِفُ الجِنُّ بِهِ

    قَبلَ هَذا الجيلِ مِن عَهدٍ أَبَد

    And many a rugged tract where the jinn make music,

    Before this generation, since time immemorial,

  2. وَضِبابٍ سَفَرَ الماءُ بِها

    غَرِقَت أَولاجُها غَيرَ السُدَد

    And lizards swept along by the water,

    Their burrow entrances flooded, except the sealed ones—

  3. فَهيَ مَوتى لَعِبَ الماءُ بِها

    في غُثاءٍ ساقَهُ السَيلُ عُدَد

    So they lie dead, the water having tossed them about,

    Amid flotsam swept along by the torrent, in great numbers.

  4. قَد تَبَطَّنتُ بِطِرفٍ هَيكَلٍ

    غَيرِ مَرباءٍ وَلا جَأبٍ مُكَد

    I have ridden through its depths on a large-framed steed,

    Neither short-winded nor a worn-out, thickset ass,

  5. قائِداً قُدّامَ حَيٍّ سَلَفوا

    غَيرِ أَنكاسٍ وَلا وُغلٍ رُفُد

    Leading ahead of a clan who had gone forth,

    Neither weaklings nor spongers dependent on others,

  6. نُبَلاءِ السَعيِ مِن جُرثومَةٍ

    تَترُكُ الدُنيا وَتَنمي لِلبَعَد

    Noble in striving, sprung from an ancestral stock

    That leaves the near behind and reaches far.

  7. يَزَعونَ الجَهلَ في مَجلِسِهِم

    وَهُمُ أَنصارُ ذي الحِلمِ الصَمَد

    They curb folly in their council,

    And they support the forbearing lord to whom people turn.

  8. حُبُسٌ في المَحلِ حَتّى يُفسِحوا

    لِاِبتِغاءِ المَجدِ أَو تَركِ الفَنَد

    They stand fast in drought until they find scope

    To seek glory or abandon folly.

  9. سُمَحاءُ الفَقرِ أَجوادُ الغِنى

    سادَةُ الشَيبِ مَخاريقُ المُرُد

    Generous in poverty, open-handed in wealth,

    Lords among the gray-haired, champions among the beardless.