1. للحُريثيِّ أبي بكرٍ غَبَبْ

    وله قَرنانِ أيضاً وذَنَبْ

    Al-Huraythi, Abu Bakr, has a dewlap;

    he also has two horns and a tail.

  2. فإذا ما قال إنّا عَجمٌ

    قال قرناه جميعاً قد كَذَبْ

    So whenever he says, "We are non-Arabs,"

    his two horns both say, "He has lied."

  3. وإذا ما قال إنا عربٌ

    دفعتْ ذاك ولم ترضَ العربْ

    And whenever he says, "We are Arabs,"

    the Arabs reject that and will not accept it.

  4. وإذا ما قال إني شاعرٌ

    قيل خُذْ كلَّ شقيٍّ بالطَّرَبْ

    And whenever he says, "I am a poet,"

    he is told, "Captivate every wretch with rapture."

  5. ما ترى لابن حُريثٍ حَسباً

    أتُراهُ جاء من بَيْض التُّربْ

    You find no ancestral honor in Ibn Hurayth;

    do you think he came from the earth's eggs?

  6. كَتَمَتْهُ أمُّهُ آباءهُ

    فلهذا أنكر القومُ النسبْ

    His mother hid his fathers from him;

    so the people denied his lineage.

  7. لم تزل عِرسُ حُريثٍ مركباً

    لجميع الناس تُحنَى للرُّكبْ

    Hurayth's wife has always been a mount

    for everyone, bent beneath their knees.

  8. لك وجهٌ محكمٌ صنعتُهُ

    ما تَرى عُقِّب إلا بعَقبْ

    You have a face of sturdy workmanship;

    you see it bound with nothing but sinew.

  9. جُثَّةُ الكشْخانِ تُنْبي أنها

    جُمِعتْ نُطفتُها من ألفِ أبْ

    The cuckold's body reveals that

    the seed that formed it was pooled from a thousand fathers.

  10. كلَّ يومٍ لك فيهِ نسبٌ

    زادك الرحمنُ في هذا التعبْ

    Every day you have a different lineage;

    may the All-Merciful increase this trouble for you!

  11. أنت ما تنفكُّ من تصحيحهِ

    في عناءٍ واشتغالٍ ونصَبْ

    In trying to correct it, you are never free

    of hardship, preoccupation, and toil.

  12. لستَ من نطفة فحلٍ واحدٍ

    أنت من كلّ قريبٍ وجُنُبْ

    You are not from the seed of a single stud;

    you come from every kinsman and stranger.

  13. عاب أشعاري وفي منزله

    كلُّ عيبٍ ومخازٍ ورِيَبْ

    He disparaged my poems, while in his house

    there is every flaw, disgrace, and suspicion.

  14. لم تضِح قطُّ له نسبتُهُ

    كيف والأعراقُ فيه لم تَطِبْ

    His lineage has never been clear;

    how could it be, when his ancestral stock is impure?

  15. أنا لا أشتمُ إلّا أمَّهُ

    فليزدني غضباً فوق غضبْ

    I insult no one but his mother,

    so let him stir in me anger upon anger.

  16. وليقُلْ ما شاء في شتمي له

    إن طبعي شيمةٌ لا مُكتَسبْ

    And let him say what he likes about my insulting him;

    indeed, my nature is an innate disposition, not acquired.

  17. ما لمن يُغمَزُ في أنسابه

    ولِعَيبِ الشعرِ من أهل الأدبْ

    What has one whose pedigrees are impugned

    to do with criticizing poetry by men of letters?

  18. إنْ يكُنْ يطلبُ شتمي أمَّهُ

    فلقد نال الذي مني طلبْ

    If he wants me to insult his mother,

    then he has indeed obtained what he asked of me.

  19. أو يكن بابن عِياضٍ فاخراً

    فلعمري فيه فخرٌ وحَسَبْ

    Or if he boasts of Ibn Iyad,

    then, by my life, in him are pride and ancestral honor!

  20. ما ترى فيه لهُ من مَغْمزٍ

    لا وأنسابِ حُريثٍ في النَسَبْ

    You see nothing there to reproach him for;

    no—by Hurayth's pedigrees in genealogy!

  21. إنما ناك قديماً أختَهُ

    ففَخارُ الوغدِ في هذا السَبَبْ

    He merely fucked his sister long ago;

    so the scoundrel's boasting rests on this connection.

  22. كم لها من كربةٍ فرَّجها

    بالعياضيّ إذا الأمرُ كَرَبْ

    How many a distress of hers he relieved

    with al-Iyadi when the situation grew dire!

  23. كلُّكُمْ آل حُريثٍ عُرَّةٌ

    لعن الله حريثاً وكَتَبْ

    All of you, house of Hurayth, are a disgrace;

    may God curse Hurayth and write it down!