ما لا تضمره للولد أمّ، أكان سمُّها يدّكر أم فقد عندها السُّم. وليس هذا الحضب مجانساً للَّذي عناه الراجز في قوله: وقد تطويت انطواء الحضب وقد علم، أدام الله جمال البراعة بسلامته، أن الحضب ضرب من الحيات، وأنّه يقال لحبة القلب حضب.
What a mother does not conceal for her child, whether her poison is remembered or the poison is lost with her. And this hadab is not of the same kind as what the rajaz poet meant in his saying: 'And I have coiled as the hadab coils.' And it is known, may God preserve the beauty of eloquence in its soundness, that the hadab is a kind of snake, and that the kernel of the heart is called hadab.
وإنّ في منزلي لأسود، وهو أعزّ عليّ من عنترة على زبيبة، وأكرم عندي من السُّليك، عند السُّلكة، وأحق بإيثاري من خفاف السُّلميّ بخبايا ندبة وهو أبداً محجوب، لا تجاب عنه الأغطية ولا يجوب، لو قدر لسافر إلى أن يلقاه، ولم يحد عن ذلك لشقاء يشقاه. وإنه إذ يذكر، ليؤنَّث في المنطق ويذكر، وما يعلم أنّه حقيقي التذكير، ولا تأنيثه المعتمد بنكير. لا أفتأ دائباً فيما رضي، على أنّه لا مدفع لما قضي. أعظمه أكثر من إعظام لخم الأسود بن المنذر وكندة الأسود بن معد يكرب، وبني نهشل بن دارم الأسود بن يعفر ذا المقال المطرب. ولا يبرح مولعاً بذكره كإيلاع سحيم بعميرة في محضره ومبداه، ونصيب مولى أمّية بسعداه.
And indeed in my house there is a black one, and he is dearer to me than 'Antara is to Zabiba, and more honored with me than al-Sulayk with al-Sulaka, and more deserving of my preference than Khifaf al-Sulami with the hidden things of a scar, and he is always hidden, the coverings are not answered about him nor does he traverse, if he could he would travel to meet him, and he would not deviate from that due to a misery he suffers. And when he is mentioned, he is made feminine in speech and masculine, and it is not known that his masculinity is real, nor is his femininity the relied-upon denial. I do not cease persistently in what he approves, although there is no repelling what is decreed. I magnify him more than the magnification of Lakhm of al-Aswad ibn al-Mundhir and Kinda of al-Aswad ibn Ma'dikarib, and Banu Nahshal ibn Darim of al-Aswad ibn Ya'fur, the one of the pleasing saying. And he does not cease being fond of mentioning him like Suhaym's fondness for 'Umayra in his presence and his beginning, and Nusayb the client of Umayya with his Sa'da.
وقد كان مثله مع الأسود بن زمعة، والأسود بن عبد يغوث ... والأسودين اللذين ذكرهما اليشكري في قوله:
And his like was with al-Aswad ibn Zam'a, and al-Aswad ibn 'Abd Yaghuth ... and the two black ones whom al-Yashkuri mentioned in his saying:
فهداهم بالأسودين وأمر الله بلغ يشقى به الأشقياء
So He guided them by the two black ones, and God's command is far-reaching; by it the wretched are made wretched.
ومع أسودان الذي هو نبهان بن عمرو بن الغوث بن طيءّ، ومع أبي الأسود الذي ذكره امرؤ القيس، في قوله:
And with Aswadan, who is Nabhan ibn 'Amr ibn al-Ghawth ibn Tayyi', and with Abu al-Aswad whom Imru' al-Qays mentioned, in his saying:
وذلك من خبرٍ جاءني، ونبَّئته عن أبي الأسود
And that is from a report that came to me, and I was informed of it about Abu al-Aswad.
وما فارقه أبو الأسود الدؤلي في عمره طّرفة عين، في حال الراحة ولا الأين وقارن سويد بن أبي كاهل يرد به على المناهل. وحالف سويد بن الصامت، ما بين المبتهج والشامت. وساعف سويد بن صميع، في أيّام
And Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali did not part from him in his life for the blink of an eye, in a state of rest nor of fatigue, and he accompanied Suwayd ibn Abi Kahil, by which he repels towards the watering places. And he allied with Suwayd ibn al-Samit, between the rejoicing and the gloating. And he assisted Suwayd ibn Sumay', in the days of