حريث نبيطيٌّ مسمَّى بحرثهِ

حريث نبيطيٌّ مسمَّى بحرثهِ

رآهُ مُسمِّيه صغيراً فصغَّرا

رآهُ مُسمِّيه صغيراً فصغَّرا

Ḥurayth is a Nabataean, named for his tilling.

A besmirched poet, labelled with his own besmirchment

His namer saw him as little, so made his name diminutive.

He who labelled him found him small, thus made him smaller

إذا ما عَواريُّ الهجاء تعذَّرتْ

إذا ما عَواريُّ الهجاء تعذَّرتْ

فقُلْ فيه ما فيه فلن يتعذرا

فقُلْ فيه ما فيه فلن يتعذرا

If ever borrowed material for satire proves elusive,

When the orations of blame are difficult to articulate

then speak of him as he is—that will not be hard.

Say of him what's in him, it won't make it more difficult

يسيرٌ على هاجيهِ وُجدانُ سبِّهِ

يسيرٌ على هاجيهِ وُجدانُ سبِّهِ

وأعسرُ ما في سبِّهِ أن يُسيَّرا

وأعسرُ ما في سبِّهِ أن يُسيَّرا

Finding insults for him is easy for his satirist;

It's easy for his blamer to know the reason of his blame

and the hardest part is getting that abuse circulated.

And the hardest of his blame is to make it easy

وذلك أن الله أخمل ذكرهُ

وذلك أن الله أخمل ذكرهُ

وأعطاهُ من شُنْع المخازي وأكثرا

وأعطاهُ من شُنْع المخازي وأكثرا

And that is because God has made his name obscure,

That's because God covered his mention

and given him hideous disgraces in abundance.

And gave him plenty of the garments of shame

وكم مثلِهِ من خاملٍ قد كسوتُه

وكم مثلِهِ من خاملٍ قد كسوتُه

رداءً جديد الطُّرتيْن محبَّرا

رداءً جديد الطُّرتيْن محبَّرا

And many an obscure man like him have I clothed

And how many others like him have I clothed

in a robe, new at both borders and richly adorned.

With a new embroidered gown with two lengths

فأضحى تراءاهُ العيون نباهةً

فأضحى تراءاهُ العيون نباهةً

ألا ساء زِيّاً للفَخور ومَفْخرا

ألا ساء زِيّاً للفَخور ومَفْخرا

So he became prominent, with all eyes upon him.

So he came to be seen by eyes as glorious

Ah, what wretched garb for a boaster, and what a wretched source of pride!

Alas, an evil garb for the arrogant and boastful

تشير إليه كلُّ كفٍّ بُسبّةٍ

تشير إليه كلُّ كفٍّ بُسبّةٍ

كما ناهدتْ أيدي الحجيج المُجمَّرا

كما ناهدتْ أيدي الحجيج المُجمَّرا

Every hand points at him with an insult,

Every blaming hand points to him

as pilgrims' hands assail the target of their stones.

As did the hands of pilgrims point to Jamrat