1. لا ترجُ يا بيهقيُّ إفْراشي

    لن يَقبلَ الموت رشوة الراشي

    Do not hope, O Bayhaqi, for my relenting.

    Death will not accept the briber's bribe.

  2. أضرمْتني ثم حِلتَ تُطفئني

    هلا تضرعتَ قبل إكماشي

    You set me ablaze, then schemed to extinguish me.

    Why did you not plead before my swift assault?

  3. يا هارباً والصباحُ فاضحُهُ

    هلا ترحّلْتَ تحت إغباشي

    O fugitive whom the morning exposes,

    why did you not depart beneath my gathering darkness?

  4. لم تَتْرك البغي يا حُذَيْفَتَهُ

    حتى أظلّتك خيلُ قِرواش

    You did not abandon aggression, O its Hudhayfa,

    until Qirwash's cavalry overshadowed you.

  5. وألتَ جهلاً من المَراح إلى

    هَيجاءَ ليست بذات إفراش

    In ignorance you fled from merriment into

    a battle that grants no respite.

  6. كفاقئٍ عينَه مُواءلةً

    من عائرٍ نالها بإعماش

    Like someone gouging out his eye to escape

    a mote that had made it bleary.

  7. أإن ألمتَ الجراحَ ويحكَ تس

    تقتِل لاقيتَ حَرّ أعراش

    If wounds hurt you—woe to you!—do you seek

    death, having faced the heat of burning trellises?

  8. دعاك خدشٌ إلى استثارة فَرْ

    رَاسٍ من الأُسدِ غير خدَّاش

    A scratch drove you to rouse a ravening—

    —lion among lions, no mere scratcher.

  9. أغْضبك الكسعُ بالهجاء على

    خزَّامةٍ للغضاب خشّاش

    Did satire's kick anger you, directed at

    a nose-ring, a nose-peg for hotheads?

  10. فاغضبْ على عِرسِكَ التي تركتْ

    عِرضكَ عَهْناً لكلِّ نفّاش

    Then be angry with your wife, who has left

    your honour as wool for every wool-carder.

  11. ما ضر ناري التي صَلِيتَ بها

    يا ابن استِها من فراشِكَ الغاشي

    What harm came to my fire, in which you burned,

    O son of her arse, from your swarming moths?

  12. هل كُنتَ فيما حَشَشْت هَاوِيتي

    من ذاك إلا كبعض حُشَّاشي

    While you stoked my hellfire, were you

    in that anything but one of my fuel-gatherers?

  13. أم كُنتَ إلا كفارةٍ خَرَقَتْ

    بَرْزخَ طامي الحِدابِ جيّاش

    Or were you anything but a mouse that pierced

    the barrier of a swelling, cresting, seething sea?

  14. فعاجَلَتْها بوادرٌ بدَرَتْ

    من موج غضبانَ غير بشَّاش

    Sudden surges overtook it, bursting forth

    from angry waves that offered no smiles.

  15. وأصبحتْ يلعبُ العباب بها

    في لجّةٍ منه لُعبةَ الدّاشي

    And the billows began to play with it

    in their depths, like a gambler's toy.

  16. طاحت جُباراً وما أضرَّ به

    بَثْقٌ ولا ناله بإِتكاش

    It perished unavenged, without harming the sea

    by breaching it or diminishing it at all.

  17. أغَشَّها البحرُ عن إغاضتِه

    بالغتِّ فالغتِّ أيّ إغشاش

    The sea hurried it away from draining it,

    with dunking after dunking—how swiftly it drove it away!

  18. بُعداً لتكْش أحانه قدرٌ

    في حُيَّنٍ من ذويه أتكاش

    Away with Taksh, whom fate brought to his end,

    among doomed Takshes of his own kin.

  19. غرَّك عقلٌ أراك أنك لا

    تُغلَبُ والعقلُ غيرُ غَشَّاش

    A mind deceived you, showing you that you could not

    be conquered—yet reason is no cheat.

  20. أأنت يا بيهقيُّ تَشْتمني

    ويك لقد طِرت غير مرتاش

    Are you, O Bayhaqi, insulting me?

    Woe to you! You have flown without feathers.

  21. مارست شوك القتاد مني بكفْ

    فَيك فكُن في احتيال منقاش

    You grappled with my qatad-thorns with your two—

    —palms; now contrive a pair of tweezers.

  22. يا ابن التي عاهَرت مُجاهرةً

    بعد مَشيبٍ وبعد إرعاش

    O son of her who whored openly,

    after greying and after trembling with age.

  23. شمطاءُ تزني وخَرقُ مَنخِرها

    مُعشِّشٌ فيه ألفُ خُفَّاش

    A grey-haired whore, the hole of whose nostril

    is a nesting-place for a thousand bats.

  24. بظراءُ يلقى الزناة عُنْبَلُها

    بمخلبٍ للأيور خَدّاش

    A long-clitorised woman, whose huge clitoris greets fornicators

    with a claw that scratches cocks.

  25. تجهشُ للموتِ نفسُ نائِكِها

    من نتنِ فيها أشدَّ إجهاش

    Her fucker's soul sobs for death

    from the stink of her mouth, most violently.

  26. كأن فاها إذا تنسَّمه

    تساط فيه فُروث أكراش

    As though her mouth, when he sniffs it,

    had dung from paunches stirred inside it.

  27. يتركُ تقبيلُها مُقَبِّلَها

    وهو إلى العود غيرُ منحاش

    Kissing her leaves her kisser

    with no inclination to return.

  28. ترمي خياشيمَه بأسْهُمها

    رَمياً كرمي الرماةِ بالشاش

    She shoots her arrows into his nostrils,

    like the archers' shooting in Shash.

  29. يكثرُ ممَّن ينيكُها عجبي

    لم يبق حشٌّ بعير حشّاش

    My astonishment at those who fuck her grows:

    no fodder remains for a fodder-gathering camel.

  30. تَفْرقُ فيشُ الزناة عن حَرِها

    عُثْنُونَ است كرفش رفّاش

    The fornicators' cocks part away from her cunt

    the beard of a coarse, sprawling arse.

  31. تلقى من القمل والصُّؤاب به

    ما شِئتَ من سمسم وخشخاش

    In it you find lice and their eggs,

    as much sesame and poppyseed as you please.

  32. مُنيتُها أن تكون أجرتُها

    من كسب لِصٍّ وكدح نبّاش

    Her wish is that her fee should come

    from a thief's earnings and a grave-robber's labour.

  33. تقصد أن يصفو الحرامُ لها

    ما ظَلَمتْها سياط عيَّاش

    She means to have illicit gain pure and undiluted;

    Ayyash's whips did not wrong her.

  34. يُقهقر الفحلُ وهْي باركةٌ

    ثم يَصُكُّ استها بإكماش

    The stud steps backwards while she kneels,

    then briskly slams her arse.

  35. كأنه الكبشُ في تراجُعهِ

    لنطح كبشٍ بحثِّ كبَّاش

    Like a ram drawing back

    to butt another ram, urged by a ram-handler.

  36. كم أكلَ البيهقيُّ أجْرتها

    في بطن زوشٍ سليل أزْواش

    How much of her fee al-Bayhaqi has eaten,

    in a wretch's belly, descended from wretches!

  37. يا سائلي عنه ما صناعتُه

    ناهيكَ من مِقودٍ ونجاش

    O you who ask me about him and his trade:

    suffice it to call him a pimp and a shill.

  38. يقود حَوْلاءَه وينجشُ إن

    غنت ليُغرَى بحشوها حاش

    He leads his cross-eyed woman and shills when

    she sings, to tempt a stuffer to stuff her.

  39. فِراشُ غيٍّ يبيتُ يَفْرشه

    لكل غاوٍ أخسُّ فرَّاش

    A bed of vice: he spends the night spreading it

    for every reprobate, the basest bed-maker.

  40. يَعْتاش من طَبلها ومن حَرِها

    شرَّ معاشٍ لشرِّ مُعْتاش

    He lives off her drum and her cunt:

    the worst livelihood for the worst of earners.

  41. يا من على نَيكها يُحرِّضُني

    لستُ لأشْباهِها بهشّاش

    O you who urge me to fuck her,

    I have no eagerness for the likes of her.

  42. اطلب لفشِّ استها سواي فما

    مِثلي لأمْثالها بفشّاش

    Seek another to loosen her arse, for

    a man like me does not loosen the likes of her.

  43. ما أكرمَ البيهقي من رجلٍ

    كم من نديم له ومن غاش

    How generous a man al-Bayhaqi is!

    How many drinking companions and visitors he has,

  44. ينيكُ حوْلاءَه بحضرته

    غير مُراعٍ له ولا خاش

    fucking his cross-eyed woman in his presence,

    with no regard for him and no fear!

  45. أسمحُ مني وقد وهبتُ له

    مملكةً بعد حالِ كدَّاش

    More generous than me, though I have given him

    a kingdom after his life as a beggar.

  46. كسَّبتُهُ صحبة الملوك بشت

    ميه فَرَاشُوه خيرَ أرياش

    I won him the company of kings through my insulting—

    —him; they endowed him with the finest riches.

  47. أضحى جليساً لسادةٍ نُجب

    وإنما كان كلبَ أوباش

    He became a companion of noble lords,

    having been only the rabble's dog.

  48. وانْتَشْتُه من خمول والده ال

    ساقِط فانتشت شر مُنتاش

    I lifted him from the obscurity of his father, the—

    —lowly one; I lifted the worst man ever raised.

  49. أستغفرُ اللَّه من مقاومتي

    إياه لا من قبيح إفحاشي

    I ask God's forgiveness for matching myself against

    him, not for my vile obscenity.

  50. أصبحتُ تبَّرتُ مجدَ كل أبٍ

    إلى معالي الأمور بهّاش

    Now I have shattered the glory of every father

    eager for the loftiest affairs.

  51. وضعتُ بالبيهقي من شرفٍ

    لم تكُ أبياتُهُ بأحْفاش

    Through al-Bayhaqi I have debased a noble standing

    whose houses had never been hovels.

  52. يا زوجَ زيّافةٍ مُقَرْقرةٍ

    ذات فراخٍ وذاتِ أعشاش

    O husband of a strutting, cooing bird,

    with chicks and with nests,

  53. تبيت تحت الظلام ساريةً

    إلى المعاصي ربيطةَ الجاش

    she spends the night travelling under darkness

    towards sins, steadfast-hearted.

  54. تحملُ طِيزاً كأن غُلمتَه

    لذعُ مكاوٍ ولسعُ أحْناش

    She carries an arse whose lust is like

    the burn of branding-irons and the sting of snakes.

  55. قُبحاً لرأسٍ غدوتَ تحملهُ

    فيه عَريش لشر عرَّاش

    Ugliness upon the head you go about carrying!

    In it is a bower for the worst bower-builder.

  56. لا تحمدنّ البليغَ في قذعٍ

    من عَرك أمتار كل فحّاش

    Do not praise the eloquent poet for obscene abuse

    born of rubbing the cocks of every foulmouth.

  57. ولا تلمهُ إذا رماك به

    سِرُّ مخازيك قبْله فاش

    Nor blame him when he hurls it at you:

    the secret of your disgraces was public before it.

  58. يا أصلم الكُوش هاكَ ضَامِنَةً

    جدعَ أنوفٍ وصلم أكواش

    O cropped-eared one, take this poem, guaranteeing

    the cutting of noses and the cropping of ears.

  59. شنعاءَ لو جُلِّل النهارُ بها

    بُدِّل من ضوئه بإغطاش

    A monstrous poem: if daylight were shrouded in it,

    its brightness would be exchanged for darkness.

  60. شوهاءَ معشُوقةً يُخلِّدها

    حِفظ حفيظٍ ورقشُ رقاش

    Hideous yet beloved, it will be immortalised by

    a memoriser's memory and a scribe's inscription.

  61. محمولةً لا تزال تَسمعها

    من راكب مُنشد ومن ماش

    Carried abroad, you will keep hearing it

    from a reciting rider and from a walker.

  62. فيها هِجاءٌ إذا صُدِمتَ به

    أطرش أذنيْك أيّ إطراش

    It contains satire which, when it strikes you,

    will utterly deafen both your ears.

  63. يلوح في الوجه عَلْبُ مِيسمها

    ما أثبتَ الصخرُ نَقشَ نقاش

    The scar of its branding-iron shows upon the face

    as long as stone preserves an engraver's engraving.

  64. لا كغُثاء تظل تلفظه

    تخليطُ خرقاءَ مَيْش ميّاش

    Not like the scum you keep spewing:

    a foolish woman's muddle, a muddler's mixing.

  65. تهجَى فتهجُو فلا تزيدُ على

    تكشيف جهلٍ وهدر فَرخاش

    You are lampooned, and lampoon back, adding only

    an unveiling of ignorance and a brawler's clamour.

  66. تأتي من الشعر في هجائك بال

    وخش كما أنت وخش أوخاش

    In your lampoons you produce poetry that is—

    —base, as you are the basest of the base.

  67. فأنت عون لمن هجاك على

    نفسِكَ ظُفرٌ لكل خمّاش

    So you help whoever lampoons you against

    yourself: a fingernail for every scratcher.

  68. كشارب الآجن الأجاج من ال

    ماء فما ازداد غيرَ إعطاش

    Like one who drinks stagnant, bitter, salty

    water, only to increase his thirst.

  69. قد قُمتُ يا بيهقيُّ معتذراً

    عنك بشعرٍ بنفسه واش

    I have undertaken, O Bayhaqi, to make excuses

    for you with verse that is itself a telltale.

  70. وقلتُ إذا قيل باردٌ كسدتْ

    من بَردِه سوق كل خيّاش

    And when they said 'Cold!' I said: the trade

    of every sackcloth seller has slumped from his coldness.

  71. لا تعذلوه فإنه رجل

    يروي من الطب ألفَ كُناش

    Do not blame him, for he is a man

    who recites a thousand medical compendia.

  72. مرّتْ به وَعْكتي فبرّد بال

    يقطين عن نفسهِ وبالماش

    My fever passed by him, and he cooled himself with—

    —gourds and mung beans.

  73. أطغاك ما نِلتَ بي فدُونَكها

    من صائلٍ بالطغاة بطّاش

    What you gained through me made you insolent; take this,

    from a fierce assailant who strikes down tyrants.

  74. من مجَّ عفوي وملَّ عافيتي

    أمتَعتُه منهما بإيحاش

    Anyone who spits out my pardon and tires of my forbearance,

    I grant him the pleasure of estrangement from both.

  75. لو أفضل البيهقيُّ قافيةً

    أنهشتُها البينَ أي إنهاش

    If al-Bayhaqi were to leave a rhyme behind,

    I would give it to al-Bayn to gnaw thoroughly.

  76. تعرّق الشِّينَ بل تمشَّشها

    ولن ترى الكلبَ غير مشّاش

    Strip the shīn to the bone—nay, suck out its marrow;

    you will never find the dog anything but a marrow-gnawer.

  77. يا بينُ كُلْ من شوائِهِ رغَداً

    فقد شويناه غيرَ رشّاش

    O Bayn, eat freely of his roasted flesh:

    we have roasted him without timidity.

  78. لا تَسترث ما أعدَّه لكما

    وارضَ لعَيرَينِ نبلَ عِكراش

    Do not deem poor what he has prepared for you two,

    and accept Ikrash's arrows for two asses.

  79. أنا أميرُ الكلام لا كَذباً

    أصدعُ بالفخر غيرَ فيّاش

    I am the commander of speech—no lie!

    I proclaim my pride, no lying braggart.

  80. لا تعدمُ المصمياتِ من نبل بر

    رَاءٍ لنبل الهجاءِ ريَّاش

    You will not lack deadly shafts from the arrows of an arrow—

    —shaper, a featherer of satirical arrows.

  81. ما يحرش الحارِشون ويلَهُمُ

    من أفعوانٍ أصَمَّ نهّاش

    What do the provokers stir up—woe to them!—

    but a deaf, fiercely biting serpent?

  82. ينساب جنح الظلام في سَفنٍ

    في جِلده المقشعر نشّاش

    It glides through the darkness of night, scraping,

    its bristling skin crackling and hissing.

  83. له سَحيفٌ لدى مَزَاحِفه

    يُجيبُ منه كَشيشَ كشّاش

    It has a rasping sound wherever it crawls,

    answering its hiss, the hiss of a hissing serpent.

  84. كأنَّ أذْناهُما لسامعه

    صوتُ رحا الجَشِّ منه جشّاش

    As though, to its hearer, the lesser of the two sounds

    were the sound of a mill grinding coarse grain.

  85. يُدهشُ قبل الوِثابِ منظرُهُ

    ونفثُه السُمَّ أيَّ إدهاش

    Its appearance bewilders before it leaps,

    and its spitting of poison—what bewilderment!

  86. تُمطِر ناباه عند نَهشتِهِ

    وبلاً من الموتِ بعد إرشاش

    Its two fangs rain down, when it bites,

    a deluge of death after a sprinkling.

  87. فلينتَهِ الجاهلون ويْبَهمُ

    ليس الأفاعي ضبابَ حرَّاش

    Let the ignorant desist—woe to them!

    Vipers are not a lizard-hunter's lizards.

  88. وليعلم الناسُ أنني رجل

    ورّادُ هيجاءَ غيرُ ورّاش

    And let people know that I am a man

    who enters battle often, no timid skulker.

  89. صَرّاعُ باغ وإنني لأخٌ

    للعاثر الجدِّ جدُّ نعّاش

    An oppressor's overthrower; and indeed I am a brother

    to one whose fortune stumbles, a true lifter-up.

  90. يعصفُ جهلي بمن يُجاهلني

    وإن حِلمي لغيرُ طيّاش

    My fury storms against whoever acts foolishly towards me;

    yet my forbearance is anything but rash.

  91. أُمطِر مستمطري الصواعقَ وال

    غيثَ شآبيبَ غير طشّاش

    Upon whoever asks me for rain I rain thunderbolts and

    rain in downpours, no mere drizzle.

  92. كم ليَ في مَغْضبٍ وعند رضا

    من وابلٍ للأكام حفّاش

    How much I have, in anger and in contentment,

    of torrential rain that scours the hills!