يا ذا الذي لو هجاه مادحه

يا ذا الذي لو هجاه مادحه

عُوقب هَلّا يثاب بالمِدَحِ

عُوقب هَلّا يثاب بالمِدَحِ

O you whose praiser, were he to lampoon you,

O you who if praised would have been punished, why not rewarded for praise?

would be punished—why is he not rewarded for praise?

You take his incoherent praises seriously, yet not his coherent dispraises.

تعتدُّه بَهْرجَ المديحَ ولا

تعتدُّه بَهْرجَ المديحَ ولا

تعتدُّه هاجياً كممتدحِ

تعتدُّه هاجياً كممتدحِ

You deem his praise counterfeit, yet do not

Prolific in praise, sparse in dispraise -

regard him in satire as you do in praise.

No! But a hand created for ingratitude, not for favors and gifts.

مطَّرحُ الشعرِ في مدائحه

مطَّرحُ الشعرِ في مدائحه

وفي الأهاجيِّ غير مطّرحِ

وفي الأهاجيِّ غير مطّرحِ

His verse is cast aside in his praises,

but in satires it is not cast aside.

كلا ولكنها يد خُلقت

كلا ولكنها يد خُلقت

للنُّكر لا للعارفات والمِنَحِ

للنُّكر لا للعارفات والمِنَحِ

No! Rather, it is a hand created

for wrongdoing, not for kindnesses and gifts.