غَنَّى فكُلُّ حاضرٍ

غَنَّى فكُلُّ حاضرٍ

إِصْبَعُهُ في أُذْنِهِ

إِصْبَعُهُ في أُذْنِهِ

He sang—and everyone present

He sang and every listener

Had his finger in his ear—

Stuck a finger in his ear,

شِعْراً كَبرْدِ فَكَّهِ

شِعْراً كَبرْدِ فَكَّهِ

لفظاً وطُولِ قَرْنِهِ

لفظاً وطُولِ قَرْنِهِ

Verse as cold as his jaw

Like splitting ice, his poetry's

In wording, and as long as his horn.

Words and rhymes stabbed with a spear.

فالحمدُ لله الذي

فالحمدُ لله الذي

غَنَّى ولم يُثَنِّهِ

غَنَّى ولم يُثَنِّهِ

So praise be to God for the one who

So praise God who let him sing

Sang and did not repeat it.

Yet did not make him persevere.