1. قِفي وَدِّعينا اليَومَ يا اِبنَةَ مالِكِ

    وَعوجي عَلَينا مِن صُدورِ جِمالِكِ

    Stop and bid us farewell today, O daughter of Malik,

    and turn your camels' breasts back toward us.

  2. قِفي لا يَكُن هَذا تَعِلَّةَ وَصلِنا

    لِبَينٍ وَلا ذا حَظُّنا مِن نَوالِكِ

    Stop; let this not be the scant consolation of our union

    at parting, nor this our share of your bounty.

  3. أُخَبِّركِ أَنَّ الحَيَّ فَرَّقَ بَينَهُم

    نَوى غُربَةٍ ضَرّارَةٍ لي كَذَلِكِ

    I tell you that the tribespeople have been scattered

    by exile's distance, so grievous to me.

  4. وَلَم يُنسِني ما قَد لَقيتُ وَشَفَّني

    مِنَ الوَجدِ أَنّي غَيرُ ناسٍ لِقاءَكِ

    What I have endured has not made me forget; what has wasted me away

    with longing is that I have not forgotten meeting you.

  5. وَما دونَها إِلّا ثَلاثٌ مَآوِبٌ

    قُدِرنَ لِعيسٍ مُسنِفاتِ الحَوارِكِ

    Only three days' journeys lie between us and her,

    reckoned for pale camels thrusting their withers forward.

  6. وَلا غَروَ إِلّا جارَتي وَسُؤالُها

    أَلا هَل لَنا أَهلٌ سُئِلتِ كَذَلِكِ

    Nothing surprises me but my neighbor and her question:

    'Say, have we any kin?'—may you be asked the same!

  7. تُعَيِّرُ سَيري في البِلادِ وَرِحلَتي

    أَلا رُبَّ دارٍ لي سِوى حُرُّ دارِكِ

    She mocks my roaming through the lands and my journeys.

    Ah, many a dwelling is mine besides your dwelling's courtyard.

  8. وَلَيسَ اِمرُؤٌ أَفنى الشَبابَ مُجاوِراً

    سِوى حَيِّهِ إِلّا كَآخَرَ هالِكِ

    And a man who spends his youth as a sojourner

    away from his own tribe is only like another dead man.

  9. أَلا رُبَّ يَومٍ لَو سَقِمتُ لَعادَني

    نِساءٌ كِرامٌ مِن حُيَيٍّ وَمالِكِ

    Ah, on many a day, had I fallen ill, I would have been visited

    by noble women of Huyayy and Malik—

  10. ظَلِلتُ بِذي الأَرطى فُوَيقَ مُثَقَّبٍ

    بِبيئَةِ سَوءٍ هالِكاً أَو كَهالِكِ

    I spent the day at Dhu al-Arta, just above Muthaqqab,

    in wretched surroundings, dying or as good as dead—

  11. وَمِن عامِرٍ بيضٌ كَأَنَّ وُجوهَها

    مَصابيحُ لاحَت في دُجىً مُتَحالِكِ

    and by fair women of Amir, whose faces were like

    lamps gleaming in pitch-black darkness.

  12. تَرُدُّ عَلَيَّ الريحُ ثَوبِيَ قاعِداً

    إِلى صَدَفيٍّ كَالحَنيَّةِ بارِكِ

    The wind blows my robe back upon me as I sit

    beside a Sadafi camel, kneeling like a bow.

  13. رَأَيتُ سُعوداً مِن شُعوبٍ كَثيرَةٍ

    فَلَم تَرَ عَيني مِثلَ سَعدِ بنِ مالِكِ

    I have seen clans called Sa'd among many peoples,

    but my eye has seen none like Sa'd ibn Malik:

  14. أَبَرَّ وَأَوفى ذِمَّةً يَعقِدونَها

    وَخَيراً إِذا ساوى الذُرى بِالحَوارِكِ

    more upright and more faithful to the pledges they make,

    and better when humps are leveled with withers,

  15. وَأَنمى إِلى مَجدٍ تَليدٍ وَسورَةٍ

    تَكونُ تُراثاً عِندَ حَيٍّ لِهالِكِ

    and more nobly descended from ancient glory and eminence,

    which the living hold as a legacy from the dead.

  16. أَبي أَنزَلَ الجَبّارَ عامِلُ رُمحِهِ

    عَنِ السَرجِ حَتّى خَرَّ بَينَ السَنابِكِ

    My father's spearpoint brought the tyrant down

    from the saddle, till he fell among the hooves.

  17. وَسَيفي حُسامٌ أَختَلي بِذُبابِهِ

    قَوانِسَ بيضِ الدارِ عينَ الدَوارِكِ

    And my sword is keen; with its point I mow down

    the crests of armored men's closely massed helmets.