1. You were silent out of fear and said forbearance is my nature
You slept out of cowardice and said patience is my trait

2. But you and the people already know
Had you not been lethargic, you would not have been silent or slept

3. You did not refrain out of self-respect, but you refrained
From the likes of what my pen had forged

4. You tried to find fault in me, so you were like one
Who tries to find water in an active volcano

5. So you told the people in what you said, deceiving them
Indeed he has lampooned me, and some lampoon is like a brand

6. Censure is dishonor, but to censure one of nobility
Thanks be to God, we do not censure a noble brother

7. I will restrain my tongue from you, from smelling
And sanctity of the ties of love and covenant

8. A people, by the life of my father, if my blood was spilt
And without exaggeration, spilling my blood would satisfy them

9. I hold them back from being changed
By the words of one envious or an accusation of a blamer

10. It is not weakness that made me sit back from restraining my hand
But for their sake I refrained from my words

11. If I wished, I would have filled the whole earth
With rhymed prose and the open spaces with wisdom

12. And I am not surprised that you did not complain of pain
Indeed inanimate things do not complain of pain