Amr ibn Ma'dikarib's poem to Qays ibn Makshuh, 'I counselled you on the day of Dhu San'a''

A qasida on the rhyme of the dal composed by Amr ibn Ma'di Karib addressed to Qays ibn Makshuh, when Qays threatened him because he had opposed him and gone to the Prophet. ¹

The poet reminds Qays that on the day of Dhu Sana' he had given him an order whose right course was plain, and had told him to fear God and to do good. Qays then left his hopes like a small donkey whose tether had deceived him. ¹ The poet then describes himself as a horseman on a horse like a lion, wearing a wide coat of mail like a clear pool, who turns back a spear with a bent point, broken. He threatens Qays: if you met me, you would meet a lion with a mane upon it, who throws down his enemy, seizes him, breaks him and swallows him, the oppressor of idolatry in all that its fangs and paw have taken. ^{1 2}

The poem opens with a reminder that he gave Qays a clear order on the day of Dhu Sana'. ¹

Ibn Hisham transmits three verses from it from Abu Ubayda, with a different wording, and says that Abu Ubayda did not know the rest. ²

"Dhu Sana'" is a place name; "al-mufadah" is a wide coat of mail; "al-nahy" is a pool; "awa'ir" are scattered; "al-qasd" is what has broken off of a spear; "al-labad" is the hair on a lion's shoulders and head; "al-shathn" means thick-fingered; "al-katad" is the space between the shoulders; "ya'tasiduhu" means he seizes him under the arm to throw him down; "yazdaridahu" means he swallows him. ^{1 2}