1. Alas for these compositions
That came to me from misfortunes

2. People attacked me
With malice, enmity and rivalry

3. So they formed groups against it
Like regiments of soldiers

4. I endowed it with all
That tries the talents of a writer

5. And spent sleepless nights on it
Woven with calamities

6. And exerted on it the utmost effort
More than critics can calculate

7. And clothed it in the fabric of my verse
With robes of virtues

8. And crowned it with diadems
Free from blemishes

9. But due to my misfortune
It did not win a suitor

10. So they shunned it completely
As one who fears reproach would shun

11. And they spied on its flaws
While it is free of defects

12. The troublemaker said it is
An innovation, and innovation is forbidden

13. It has intricate language, exhausting
The mind of every writer

14. We never knew its like
In any of the bureaus before

15. It has words about politics
Between victor and vanquished

16. And fundamentals comprising
The jurisprudence of ranks and positions

17. And features of a land our feet
Have never trodden

18. If we ever spend a dinar
On this then it will be lost

19. News for us is to relate
Wonders and curiosities

20. And treasures, chests, mines and profits
Amulets, spells and binding charms

21. Social gatherings, drinks and loved ones
Newspapers, sorrows and mining pits

22. So that every statement in it
Is considered a curiosity

23. And its first section
Warns of consequences

24. And it entertains listeners
Beyond food, drinks

25. Beddings, clothes, entertainments and playgrounds
And warmth for the wretched

26. Then chains for the debauched
And a crutch for the old

27. And varieties matching
The number of planets

28. This is what you blamed it for
While the blamer is blameworthy

29. By your life, I am not arrogant
Nor demanding on the chord

30. If I could punish the sin
Of a brother I would not punish

31. If your maternal uncle wronged me
I would not reproach him

32. For I know he would answer
Every question

33. And altercation may end up
With the judge's rod

34. And repeating words that
Reopen old wounds

35. But I am a man who prides
Himself on his strange compositions

36. I see it fit to protect
The honor of my works from violations

37. I vowed they will not return
To a substitute that disappoints

38. I guaranteed they will succeed
In the East and West

39. It is these that the trusted one
Cares for, unlike the guardian

40. And it is for Al-Hirrani to preserve it
From every defect and despoiler

41. So assailing it means
Assailing my essence and offspring

42. And I am pained by what hurts it
Its adversary is my adversary and opponent

43. Why does one who loves curiosities
Not see any curiosities in it?

44. It is eloquent Arabic but Pierce it
And you find the taste of foreigners

45. You will not detect in it the accent
Of a Perso-Arab or observer

46. It is as if my creative pen
Was its mother, not its peer

47. While preserving the original meaning from what
Does not befit or accord with it

48. And through that effort of talent
Grey hairs are concealed

49. And its ideas make me forget
My requests each day

50. By Allah, half the whiteness of my hair
Is from those ideas

51. After this, is there any
Blame or quarrel from the troublemaker?

52. If people were like me
They would all be kindred