1. May God grace Sheyban's white hair, if true be
That Abu Khalid's offspring in part descends from him!

2. So, far from me whoever is his secret ally,
And shattered be whoever of his house pretends!

3. For no dog is more despicable in my eyes
Than Ibn al-Khatib, for all his baseness.

4. People are made by his malignant nature to suffer
Evils fouler than his ugliness.

5. Joyous am I today for having seen
The ostrich rise up in his defence,

6. For I knew his mantle of misfortune
Would enclose him while he held it in his grasp.

7. And I swear, had the ostrich Qubaad
By evening joined his followers,

8. I would have cleansed him of his infamous disgrace
And returned him to his proper craft.

9. For no fox is more wicked than his nature
Nor any owl more baleful than his outsprung twig.

10. Say to the ostrich, to that coward's chick,
Kneaded of baseness in his clay,

11. From whose face the demons flee in horror
And dread the evil of his glance,

12. Whose worth the hound outweighs—and I have sinned
By equating him in worth with hounds—

13. Whom the tomb will enclose tomorrow and its stench
Appall Nakir when it wraps him in its folds,

14. Whom people deride for his foolish views
And sight avoids beholding his visage,

15. Accursed creature! What fair sight remains
For one who keeps such vile company?

16. Does one who shares the life of that poltroon
Lose more upon this earth or profit?

17. Since when have you known the rights of a true friend
And graced the circle of his company,

18. Yet cease not seeking out his faults
And prying after his defects, unseen?

19. Are you not the friend only of fair weather,
Aiding a man in his adversity?

20. Full oft you visited his house
And fed upon his fare.

21. So tell me, who repels the good deeds
And cuts you off from His mercy?

22. Have you ever seen a favour
More despicable and sordid than his boon?

23. Has any blinkard before him blinked dimmer,
Or fallen lower from ambition?

24. Gotten less of virtue or more of ignorance
Poured forth from his tap?

25. Or been more pliant to his serving boys—
More spineless 'neath their leading-string?

26. Then, O Lord, reward Abu Khalid
For the thoughts he harbours in his breast,

27. And fulfill against himself the imprecations
He invokes, and strip his wealth entire,

28. For the jewels he wears are not so fair
As the perdition of his wretchedness!