Feedback

O son of the deceiver, the hosts have deceived me,

يا ابن المدبر غرني الرواد

1. O son of the deceiver, the hosts have deceived me,
They lived well and had none but you as their desire,

١. يا ابْن المدبِّر غرَّني الروَّادُ
عَمِرُوا وليس لهم سواك مَرادُ

2. I invoke upon the poets the most wicked invocation,
For they glorified you while others are the glories,

٢. أدعو على الشُّعراء أخبثَ دعوة
إذْ مجَّدُوك وغيرُك الأمجادُ

3. Tell me what trick you used,
They proclaimed you kept no generosity,

٣. قل لي بأية حيلة أعملْتَها
هتفوا بأنك لا حُفِظْتَ جوادُ

4. To that end it is better for you to get a good position,
And knowledge is the best thing I see that benefits,

٤. فَلَتِلْكَ أحسنُ من نوالك موقعاً
والعِلم أفضلُ ما أراه يُفادُ

5. Praise for you has spread with a trick,
Difficult matters are subdued by the like of it,

٥. لقد استفاض لك الثناءُ بحيلةٍ
صعْبُ الأمورِ بمثلها ينقادُ

6. If I had it, I would have become immortalized,
The Mother of Plateaus would not have become immortal,

٦. لو أنَّها عندي غدوتُ مخلَّداً
ما خُلِّدتْ أمُّ الهضاب نَضَادُ

7. It is as if I am a dirham in your pouches,
Or the treasure in your bidding and bartering,

٧. حتى كأنِّي في صرارك درهمٌ
أو في مَزاودك الحريزة زادُ

8. But I did not know you and your frequenting to be eloquent,
With you a trick he plans to frequent,

٨. بل ما عهدتُك وارتيادُك بالغٌ
بك حيلةً يرتادها المرتادُ

9. How could you be guided, you who are misguided,
To righteousness, and no guidance guides you,

٩. أنَّى وأنتَ مضلَّلٌ لا تهتدي
رُشداً ولا يَهْديكَه إرشادُ

10. The like of you cannot possibly be guided,
Far be it from you, that is improbable,

١٠. ما كان مِثْلُكَ يهتدي لمحالة
حاشاك ذاك وأنْ تكون تُكادُ

11. But people's sterility has been prolonged so they are pleased
With lightning and thunder,

١١. لكنَّ جدْبَ الناس طال فأصبحوا
يُرضيهمُ الإبراقُ والإرعادُ

12. Your praised bestowed on you false promises,
Lies you generous with, yet you are inanimate,

١٢. نحلَتْكَ حَمْدَ الحامديك مَواعدٌ
كُذُبٌ تجودُ بها وأنت جمادُ

13. But there is no cloud in the two horizons from you,
A lightning for promise, nor a thunder for appointment,

١٣. بل ليس في الأفقين منك سحابةٌ
للوعْدِ مِبراقٌ ولا مرْعادُ

14. You are most decisive against hopes and wishes,
When the hosts expose you,

١٤. ولأنت أحْسَمُ للمطامع والمنى
من ذاك حين يَشيمُك الروَّادُ

15. You who has failed with every failure,
That his brilliance not be moistened with appointment,

١٥. أنت الذي آلى بكلِّ أليَّةٍ
ألا يُبَلَّ بريقه ميعادُ

16. But you are most deserving when asked to be seen,
And instead of your promise, the questioner returns,

١٦. بل أنت أجدر حين تُسْأَل أن تُرى
ومكان وعدك سائلاً إيعادُ

17. What are you and the good deed or its key?
Your minds have taken you far from generosity,

١٧. ما أنت والمعروف أو مفتاحُه
ذهبتْ بذَينك دونك الأجوادُ

18. But associating with a people you disappointed,
They set up intrigues for sorrow so they succeeded,

١٨. لكن إخال معاشراً خيَّبتهُمْ
نصبوا الحبائل للأُسى فأجادوا

19. They praised you so others would appease you,
So their disappointment is disappointed, and that is what they wanted,

١٩. أثنوا عليك ليستميحك غيرُهُمْ
فيخيبَ خيبتَهم وتلك أرادوا

20. The prey of what you possess has escaped them so they transgressed,
Justifying themselves with an example that is hunted,

٢٠. أعيى عليهم صيدُ مالك فاغتدوا
يتعلَّلون بأُسْوةٍ تُصطادُ

21. And they have abundant prior sorrow,
But the people most loved to increase,

٢١. ولهم أُسىً متقدماتٌ جمَّةٌ
لكن أحبَّ القوْم أن يزدادوا

22. I praise you with winds like you dead,
On an absent day your biers carry you,

٢٢. أُثني عليك بمثل ريحك ميِّتاً
في غبِّ يوم تزفُّك الأعوادُ

23. And when your voice is called if exhumed a third time,
By an atheist and your companion is atheism,

٢٣. ولما صداك إذا نُبِشْتَ لثالثٍ
من مُلْحَدٍ وضجيعُك الإلحادُ

24. One day stinking of you alive are kindled,
Your stink does not cease to increase,

٢٤. يوماً بأنتن منك حيّاً تُجتَدى
لا زال نتنُك دائباً يزدادُ

25. You became with your generosity a deceitful suspicion,
After it testimonies arose with your stinginess,

٢٥. وغدت بجودك شبهةٌ خدَّاعةٌ
قامتْ ببخلك بعدها الأشهادُ

26. I quenched with your issuance my fervors,
When their resentment had prolonged duration,

٢٦. أرويتُ بالإصدار عنك حوائمي
لما أطال غليلَها الإيرادُ

27. And I consoled your mention that the hearts,
Are inflamed by the like of it and the livers are gashed,

٢٧. وسلوتُ ذكراك التي من مثلها
تَجْوى القلوبُ وتقْرحُ الأكبادُ

28. I befriended a breast you had long made desolate,
Your departing company does not cease to console it,

٢٨. آنستُ صدراً طالما أوحشْتَه
لا زال يُؤنس رحْلَك العُوَّادُ

29. It is as if that mention is darkness that spreads,
From it the blackness of the heart spreads,

٢٩. وكأنَّ ذاك الذكْر أسودُ يعْتري
منه سويداء الفؤاد سَوادُ

30. But my thoughts joined your mention truly,
Days of my breast in which there is no heart,

٣٠. بل إنما اتصلتْ بذكرك خَطْرَتي
أيامَ صدري ليس فيه فؤادُ

31. So go just as malady went to she,
After whom there is for the departed no return,

٣١. فاذهب كما ذهب السَّقَامُ إلى التي
ما بعدها للذاهبين معادُ

32. Do not distance from the one you are nicknamed,
And he is the one whose interpretation is distancing,

٣٢. لا تَبْعدنَّ من الذي تُكْنَى به
وهو الذي تفسيرُه الإبعادُ

33. You consulted regarding me and my reward in private,
An opinion, by your life, followed by no propriety,

٣٣. شاورتَ فيَّ وفي ثوابي خالياً
رأياً لعمرك لا يليه سدادُ

34. So I see you depriving me, and the watchers said,
You come for the likes of it accustomed,

٣٤. فأراك حرماني وقال قوارصٌ
تأتيك أنت لمثلها معتادُ

35. You disappointed me a trust with your vices, he is,
For one who prepares for an insulter, a habitual one,

٣٥. خَيَّبْتَني ثقةً بلؤمك إنه
لمن استعد لشاتمٍ لَعتادُ

36. The likes of it invective recoils retreating,
And the swords of insult sprang up sharpened,

٣٦. عن مثله نكص الهجاء مقهقِراً
ونَبَتْ سيوفُ الشتم وهي حِدادُ

37. Not that your vices are a shield, but it,
Is impure, its roses shunned by the perfumers,

٣٧. لا أنَّ لؤمَك جُنَّة لكنه
نَجَسٌ يعاف ورودَه الورَّادُ

38. How much it defended you from invective strangely,
The vinegrowers cannot increase it,

٣٨. كم ذاد عنك من الهجاء غريبةً
لا يستطيع ذِيادها الذُّوَّادُ

39. So thank it if it left you to thank a benefactor,
A barrier in front of you, but more so barricades,

٣٩. فاشكره إن خلَّاك تشكر منعماً
سُدٌّ أمامك منه بل أسدادُ

40. If you had desired a conciliation beneath it,
Imprisonment and shackles from it but more so fetters,

٤٠. لو رُمْتَ صالحةً لغالك دونها
سجنٌ وقيدٌ منه بل أَقيادُ

41. That prison remains from you a presumption,
And your restraints in it multiplied,

٤١. لا زال ذاك السجن منك مظنةً
وتضاعفتْ فيه لك الأصفادُ

42. Vice refused you gratitude for what endowed you,
And evil for itself is aid,

٤٢. لؤْمٌ أبى لك شكْرَ ما أولاكَهُ
والشرُّ منه لنفْسِه أمْدادُ

43. As for that vice being vice, it is,
Vice you preceded the eras begetting,

٤٣. وأما وذاك اللؤم لؤْماً إنه
لؤمٌ سبقتَ به الزمان تِلادُ

44. If it gathered for you insults, they become,
From insulting it, reiterated,

٤٤. لئن اجتوتك له شتائم أصبحتْ
من شتمها إياه وهي تعادُ

45. You will surely meet my fiery invectives,
Its burning does not warm you climates,

٤٥. لَتُلاقِينَّ شتائمي ناريَّةً
لا يجتويك حريقُها الوقَّادُ

46. So is the fire of disgrace, it heals its people,
As if they are its children,

٤٦. فكذاك نار الهُون تَرْأم أهلها
حتى كأنَّهُمُ لها أولادُ

47. So flee, and where can a fleer from a pursuer flee,
In every emerging dawn for him there is an ambush,

٤٧. فاهرُبْ وأينَ بهاربٍ من طالبٍ
في كلِّ مُطَّلعٍ له مرصادُ

48. Take it to you from the clothes as a garment,
The souls and bodies suffer misery in it,

٤٨. خذها إليك من الملابس ملبساً
تشقى به الأرواحُ والأجسادُ

49. Straitness, if its accessories are brought upon you,
The strangulation narrows so the countries cannot contain you,

٤٩. ضَنْكاً إذا زُرَّتْ عليك زُرُورُه
ضاق الخناق فلم يَسَعْكَ بلادُ

50. And if you suffer in wearing the like of it cold,
Then the innocent suffered from you the deserts,

٥٠. ولئنْ شقيت بلُبْسِ بردٍ مثلها
فلطالما شقِيَتْ بك الأبرادُ

51. And you will be disgraced with it if I recite,
Multiples of what makes recital ashamed,

٥١. ولتخْزَيَنَّ بها إذا ما أنشدتْ
أضعافَ ما يُزْهَى بها الإنشادُ

52. Do not rejoice in its beauty and grace,
For may the envious have mercy on you in them,

٥٢. لا تفرحنَّ بحسنها وجمالها
فليرحمنك فيهما الحسَّادُ

53. And I will pelt you after it with poems,
In which for every pelting there is intention,

٥٣. ولأرمينَّك بعدها بقصائد
فيها لكل رَميَّةٍ إقصادُ

54. If it disgraced Pharaoh fallen for its falling,
Pharaoh of the pegs and pegs would fall,

٥٤. لو خَيَّسَتْ فرعونَ ذلَّ لوقعها
فرعونُ ذو الأوتاد والأوتادُ

55. Your anger at it that I spoke my saying,
Will increase O son of the deceiver, and increase,

٥٥. عُتْباك منها أن غضبْتَ مقالتي
ستُزادُ يا ابن مدبّرٍ وتُزادُ

56. From every traveler in your dispraise casts,
With its riding animals the deserts and groves,

٥٦. من كل سائرةٍ بذمِّك يَرْتمي
بِركابها الأغْوار والأنجادُ

57. Ugly, igniting in you a fire of ugliness,
Its flames persist as you become ashes,

٥٧. شنعاء تُضْرم فيك نار شناعةٍ
تبقى نوائرُها وأنت رمادُ

58. I began it with a sharp mention,
Its conclusion is suppression, which is suppression,

٥٨. تحْبوك بدْأتُها بذكْرٍ نابِهٍ
عُقباه إخْمالٌ هو الإخْمادُ

59. And seldom does mention benefit an insolent one,
A mention that kills with its broadcasting so he perishes,

٥٩. ولَقلَّ ما يُجْدِي على متبجِّحٍ
ذكْرٌ يُماتُ بنَشْرِه فيُبادُ

60. The kindled firewood is not benefited in the ashes,
By a light whose flowing upon it is corruption.

٦٠. ما ينفع الحطبَ المحَرَّقَ في الصِّلا
ضوءٌ جريرتُه عليه فسادُ