1. Whoever it was, had I not censured him sharply
My poetry would have ennobled him

2. He says, you have been excessive in insulting us
And yet it is through such excess I excel

3. Ghalib, cease your quest for supremacy
You have attained glory by satirizing me

4. Once obscure, but I made him known
By praising the obscure until he was recognized

5. I have no need for his praise
In this or that, but in our brother Salaf