Sol 6.1

  1. رأيت محمداً شرها ظلوما

    وكنت أراه ذا ورع وقصد

    I found Muhammad greedy and unjust,

    though I had thought him devout and moderate.

  2. يقول أماتني ربي خداعا

    أمات اللَه حسان بن سعد

    He says deceitfully, “My Lord has killed me.”

    May God kill Hassan ibn Sa'd!

  3. فلولا كسبه لوجدت فسلا

    لئيم الكسب شأنك شأن عبد

    But for his earnings, I would have found him worthless,

    base in his gains—your way is the way of a slave.

  4. نجوت محمداً ودخان فيه

    كريح الجعر فوق عطين جلد

    I spoke privately with Muhammad, and the smoke of his mouth

    was like the smell of dung upon a putrid hide.

  5. ركبت إليه في رجل أتاني

    كريم يطلب المعروف عندي

    I rode to him on behalf of a man who had come to me,

    a noble man seeking a favor from me.

  6. فقلت له ولم أعجل عليه

    وذلك بعد تقريظي وحمدي

    I spoke to him without being hasty with him,

    and that was after my commendation and praise.

  7. فقلت له وبعض القول نصح

    ومنه ما أسر له وأبدي

    I said to him—and some speech is counsel,

    including what I confide to him and say openly—

  8. توق دراهم البكري أني

    أخاف عليك عاقبة التعدي

    “Beware the Bakri man's dirhams, for I

    fear for you the consequences of transgression.”

  9. فأعرض مكمحا عني كأني

    أكلم صخرة في راس صمد

    He turned away from me, head held high, as though I

    were speaking to a rock atop a stony height.

  10. أقرب كل آصره ليدنو

    فما يزداد مني غير بعد

    I draw every bond closer so that he might approach,

    but he only grows more distant from me.

  11. فأقسم غير مستثن يمينا

    أبا بخر لتتحمن ردي

    I swear an oath, making no exception:

    Father of Foul Breath, you shall surely face my reply!

  12. فما صادفت في قحطان مثلي

    ولا صادفت مثلك في معد

    You have met none like me among Qahtan,

    nor have I met your like among Ma'add:

  13. أقل براعة وأشد بخلا

    وألأم عند مسألة وحمد

    less accomplished and more miserly,

    and baser when petitioned or praised.

  14. فلو كنت المهذب من تميم

    لخفت ملامتي ورجوت حمدي

    Were you a well-bred man of Tamim,

    you would fear my censure and hope for my praise.

  15. نجوت محمدا فوجدت ريحا

    كريح الكلب مات قريب عهد

    I spoke privately with Muhammad and found a stench

    like that of a dog only recently dead.

  16. وقد ألذعتني ثعبان نتن

    سيبلغ ان سلمنا أهل نجد

    A serpent of stench had seared me;

    it will reach the people of Najd, if we survive.

  17. وأدنى خطمه فوددت أني

    قرنت دنوه مني ببعد

    He brought his snout near, and I wished

    I had coupled his nearness to me with distance,

  18. كما افتدت المعاذة من جواه

    بخلعتها ولم ترجع بزند

    as al-Mu'adhah ransomed herself from his torment

    with her divorce payment, coming away without even a fire-stick.

  19. وفارقها جواه فاستراحت

    وكانت عنده كأسير قد

    His torment left her, and she found relief;

    with him she had been like a captive bound in rawhide.

  20. وقد أدنيت فاه إلي حتى

    قتلت بذاك نفسي غير عمد

    I had brought his mouth so close to me

    that I killed myself by it, without intending to.

  21. يذقن حلاوة ويخفن موتا

    زعافا ان هممن له بورد

    They taste sweetness and fear a death

    swiftly lethal, should they think of approaching him to drink.

  22. فلما فاح فوه علي فوحا

    بمثفل غثيثة الدبر المغد

    When his mouth wafted its reek upon me,

    with the thick sediment of pus from a swollen saddle-sore,

  23. فقلت له تنح بفيك عني

    فما هذا بريح قتار رند

    I said to him, “Take your mouth away from me!

    This is no scent of burning laurel,

  24. وما هذا بريح طلا ولكن

    يفوح منه غير مرد

    nor is this the scent of wine; rather,

    what wafts from it is no scent of arak fruit.

  25. فحدثني فإن الصدق أدنى

    لباب الحق من كذب وجحد

    Tell me, for truth is nearer

    to the gate of right than lying and denial:

  26. أبات يجول في عفج طحور

    فأعلم أم أتاك به مغدي

    did it spend the night roaming in a purging beast's gut—

    so I may know—or did an early visitor bring it to you?

  27. نكهت علي نكهة أخدري

    شتيم أعصل الأنياب ورد

    You breathed upon me the breath of a wild ass,

    hideous, crooked-fanged, and tawny.

  28. فما يدنو إلى فيه ذباب

    ولو طليت مشافره بقند

    No fly would approach its mouth,

    even if you smeared its lips with sugar.

  29. فإن أهديت لي من فيك حتفي

    فإني كالذي أهديت أهدي

    If you offer me my death from your mouth,

    I too offer a gift like the one you gave:

  30. لم شردا يسرن مغنيات

    تكون فنونها من كل فند

    gather wandering verses that travel as songs,

    whose strains contain every kind of folly.

  31. أما تخزي خزيت لها إذا ما

    رواها الناس من شيب ومرد

    Will you not be ashamed of them—shame upon you!—when

    people, gray-haired and beardless alike, recite them?

  32. لأرجو أن نجوت ولم يصبني

    جوى أني إذن لسعيد جد

    I hope I have escaped and have not been struck

    by sickness; then indeed my fortune would be happy.”

  33. وقلت له متى استطرفت هذا

    فقال أصابني من جوف مهدي

    I asked him, “When did you acquire this novelty?”

    He said, “It afflicted me while I was still in my cradle.”

  34. فقلت له أما داويت هذا

    فتعذر فيه آمالاً بجهد

    I said to him, “Have you not treated this,

    doing your utmost for it, with hope and exertion?”

  35. فقال أما علمت له رقاء

    فتسديه لنا فيما ستسدي

    He said, “Do you not know a healing charm for it,

    to bestow on us among your other gifts?”

  36. فقلت له ولا آلوه عيا

    له فيما أسر له وأبدي

    I answered him, sparing him no bewilderment,

    in what I confide to him and declare openly:

  37. عليك بقيئة وبجعر كلب

    ومثلي ذاك من نون كنعد

    “Take vomit and a dog's dung,

    and twice that amount of kan'ad fish,

  38. وحلتيت وكراث وثوم

    وعودي حرمل ودماغ فهد

    and asafoetida, leeks, and garlic,

    two stalks of wild rue and a cheetah's brain,

  39. وحنجرة ابن آوى وابن عرس

    ووزن شعيرة من بزر فقد

    the throat of a jackal and of a weasel,

    and a barleycorn's weight of chaste-tree seed,

  40. وكف ذرحرح ولسان صقر

    ومثقالين من صوان رقد

    a handful of blister beetles and a falcon's tongue,

    and two mithqals of flint from Raqd.

  41. يدق ويعجن المنخول منه

    ببول آجن وبجعر قرد

    It is pounded, and the sifted portion is kneaded

    with stagnant urine and a monkey's dung.

  42. وتدفنه زماناً في شعير

    وترقبه فلا يبدو لبرد

    Bury it for a time in barley,

    and watch over it so it is not exposed to cold.

  43. فدخن فاك ما عتقت فيه

    ولا يعجن بأظفار وند

    Then fumigate your mouth with what you have aged there;

    it must not be kneaded with onycha and nadd incense.

  44. فإن حضر الشتاء وأنت حي

    أراك الله غيك أمر رشد

    If winter arrives while you are still alive—

    may God make your folly seem to you sound judgment—

  45. فدحرجها بنادق وازدردها

    متى رمت التكلم أي زرد

    roll it into pellets and gulp them down

    whenever you wish to speak—what a gulping!

  46. فتقذف بالمصل على مصل

    ببلعوم وشدق مسمعد

    Then you will spew whey upon whey

    through a gullet and a jaw stretched wide.

  47. وويلك ما لبطنك مذ قعدنا

    كأن دويه أرزام رعد

    Woe to you! What ails your belly since we sat down?

    Its rumbling sounds like peals of thunder.

  48. فإن لحكة الناسور عندي

    دواء ان صبرت له سيجدي

    For the itching of your fistula, I have

    a remedy that will work if you endure it.

  49. يميت الدود عنك وتشتهيه

    إن أنت سننته سن المقدي

    It kills your worms, and you will crave it

    if you sharpen it as the muqaddi [unclear term] does

  50. به وطليته بأصول دفلى

    وشيء من جنى لصف ورند

    with it, and coat it with oleander roots

    and some fruit of caper and laurel.”

  51. أظني ميتاً من نتن فيه

    أهان اللَه من ناجاه بعدي

    I think I am dying from the stench of his mouth;

    may God disgrace whoever speaks privately with him after me!