مَنْ باقلٌ عندكَ بل مَنْ دُغَه

مَنْ باقلٌ عندكَ بل مَنْ دُغَه

انظر إلى رأسِكَ ما أَفْرَغَهْ

انظر إلى رأسِكَ ما أَفْرَغَهْ

Who is Baqil beside you—rather, who is Dugha?

Who remains with you when in fact he's bitten

Look at your head—how empty it is!

Look at your head, see what it's brought in

أعْدَدْتُ أحجارَ القوافي له

أعْدَدْتُ أحجارَ القوافي له

فاهربْ به من قبلِ أن أَدْمغَه

فاهربْ به من قبلِ أن أَدْمغَه

I have readied the stones of rhyme for it;

I've prepared rhyming words for it

so flee with it before I dash its brains out.

So flee with it before I smash it

أو لا تَرُغْ ليس من الحزم أن

أو لا تَرُغْ ليس من الحزم أن

يقولَ بعضُ الناس ما أروَغَه

يقولَ بعضُ الناس ما أروَغَه

Or do not dodge: it is not prudent for

Or don't boast, it's not wise that

some people to say, “How evasive he is!”

Some people say what they've concocted

فما قرادٌ زلَّ عن مَنسِمٍ

فما قرادٌ زلَّ عن مَنسِمٍ

بمعجز المنسم أن يَفْدَغَه

بمعجز المنسم أن يَفْدَغَه

For no tick that slips off a hoof

No tick has ever slipped off a deer

can keep that hoof from crushing it.

With the deer's antlers to gore it

مَن حاربَ الأفعى على غِرَّةٍ

مَن حاربَ الأفعى على غِرَّةٍ

بِحَربِها توشكُ أن تَلدَغَه

بِحَربِها توشكُ أن تَلدَغَه

Whoever fights a viper, ignorant

Whoever fought the viper foolishly

of its warfare, will soon be bitten by it.

With fighting it you're soon to be bitten

يا لغوياً ما تزال استُهُ

يا لغوياً ما تزال استُهُ

أَنطَقَ من فيه بعلم اللغه

أَنطَقَ من فيه بعلم اللغه

O linguist, whose arse is ever

Oh linguist, you still take pride

more articulate in linguistic knowledge than his mouth.

In the knowledge of language you're equipped

ويا فتى النحو الذي لا تني

ويا فتى النحو الذي لا تني

لاماتُنا في ميمِه مُولَغَه

لاماتُنا في ميمِه مُولَغَه

And O grammar lad, for whom, without ceasing,

And oh boy of grammar, you don't regret

our lāms are plunged into his mīm.

Our blame in the meme mocks you

وشاعرٌ لو أنه صامتٌ

وشاعرٌ لو أنه صامتٌ

لقال كلُّ الناس ما أبلغه

لقال كلُّ الناس ما أبلغه

And a poet who, if he were silent,

Even a mute poet, if he were

would have everyone saying, “How eloquent he is!”

All would say how eloquent he was

استك إِبراهيمُ صبَّاغةٌ

استك إِبراهيمُ صبَّاغةٌ

لا تُخرجُ الغُرْمولَ أو تصْبُغَه

لا تُخرجُ الغُرْمولَ أو تصْبُغَه

Your arse, Ibrahim, is a dyer:

Your profession, O Ibrahim the dyer

it lets no penis out without dyeing it.

Won't rid of scurf or dye it

في جوفها اسطبلٌ يعي كلَّ ما

في جوفها اسطبلٌ يعي كلَّ ما

شئتَ وفي خارجها مِمْرَغه

شئتَ وفي خارجها مِمْرَغه

Inside it is a stable that holds whatever

Inside it a stable that understands all

you wish, and outside it a wallowing-ground.

You want and outside is its trough

ليست تلذُّ العَرَد ما لم تصلْ

ليست تلذُّ العَرَد ما لم تصلْ

نُغْنُغَةُ العَرْدِ إلى النُّغنُغَه

نُغْنُغَةُ العَرْدِ إلى النُّغنُغَه

It does not relish a penis unless

It does not please monkeys unless

the penis's tip reaches the throat.

The monkeys' twitter reaches twittering

ما أوبقَ اللؤمَ لئيماً كما

ما أوبقَ اللؤمَ لئيماً كما

أَوبَقَكَ اللؤمَ ولا أوتَغَه

أَوبَقَكَ اللؤمَ ولا أوتَغَه

Baseness has never ruined a base man as

Doom did not doom a scoundrel like

baseness has ruined you, nor destroyed him so utterly.

It has doomed you without pity

ثلاثةٌ ليس لها رابعٌ

ثلاثةٌ ليس لها رابعٌ

عِرضك والمَخْرجٌ والمَدبَغه

عِرضك والمَخْرجٌ والمَدبَغه

Three things—there is no fourth:

Three things have no fourth

your honor, the privy, and the tannery.

Your honor, livelihood, and tannery

ويلٌ لإبراهيمَ مَن ساقَهُ

ويلٌ لإبراهيمَ مَن ساقَهُ

لِلْحَيْنِ والحتفِ لقد بَلَّغه

لِلْحَيْنِ والحتفِ لقد بَلَّغه

Woe to Ibrahim! Whoever drove him

Woe to Ibrahim who led him

toward doom and death has surely brought him there.

To death and ruin, he delivered it

ويلٌ له ويل له لازمٌ

ويلٌ له ويل له لازمٌ

ألزمُ للصدغ من المِصْدَغَه

ألزمُ للصدغ من المِصْدَغَه

Woe to him—a woe that clings to him,

Woe to him, woe to him, destined

more closely to the temple than a pillow.

I oblige to the temple what I pummel

ذو نخوةٍ تُخبرنا أنه

ذو نخوةٍ تُخبرنا أنه

عرَّق فيه باغرٌ أو بُغَه

عرَّق فيه باغرٌ أو بُغَه

A man of arrogance, which tells us that

With gallantry that tells us

the blood of Baghir or Bugha runs in him.

A dyer stained it or dyed it

وصورةٍ شوهاءَ إن لم تكنْ

وصورةٍ شوهاءَ إن لم تكنْ

قرداً ففي قالَبِه مُفْرَغه

قرداً ففي قالَبِه مُفْرَغه

And a hideous form that, if it is not

And an ugly image, if it weren't

a monkey, is cast in a monkey's mold.

A monkey, in its mold it was cast

كأنما يمضغُ سلحاً إذا

كأنما يمضغُ سلحاً إذا

ما مضغَ الإنشادَ أو تَغتَغَه

ما مضغَ الإنشادَ أو تَغتَغَه

As though he were chewing shit, whenever

As if he chews a weapon when

he chews his recitation or mumbles it.

He mumbles poetry or grumbles it

عَيرٌ عَرَتْ أرساغَه عُقلةٌ

عَيرٌ عَرَتْ أرساغَه عُقلةٌ

قد عَقَلتْ عن شأونا أرسُغه

قد عَقَلتْ عن شأونا أرسُغه

An ass whose pasterns a crippling ailment has seized,

A camel whose leading ropes are cut, a mind

which has held his pasterns back from our pace.

That has reasoned about our affairs to neglect them

ولا أراهُ ناجعاً فيه ما

ولا أراهُ ناجعاً فيه ما

شرَّطَه البَيطارُ أو بَزَّغه

شرَّطَه البَيطارُ أو بَزَّغه

Nor do I see it benefiting him, however much

And I don't see it working for him what

the farrier has scarified or bled him.

The veterinarian conditioned or sutured

خنَّقَهُ الهجوُ فلو راحَ أنْ

خنَّقَهُ الهجوُ فلو راحَ أنْ

يُسيِغَ بَرْدُ الماءِ ما سَوَّغَه

يُسيِغَ بَرْدُ الماءِ ما سَوَّغَه

Satire has choked him; even if he tried to

Criticism has choked him, so if he went to

swallow cool water, it would not go down.

Quench with cold water, it wouldn't quench it

مُخَنَّثٌ قد صَفَّرَ الخُنْثُ ما

مُخَنَّثٌ قد صَفَّرَ الخُنْثُ ما

جاوز لِيْتَيْهِ وقد ثَمَّغَه

جاوز لِيْتَيْهِ وقد ثَمَّغَه

An effeminate man: effeminacy has emptied what

An effeminate whom effeminacy has yellowed beyond

lies beyond his neck's two sides, and has pulped it.

His clavicle and has infiltrated it

شَهْوَتُهُ اللحمُ ولكنّه

شَهْوَتُهُ اللحمُ ولكنّه

يَبْلَعُهُ من غيرِ أَنْ يَمْضُغَه

يَبْلَعُهُ من غيرِ أَنْ يَمْضُغَه

His craving is flesh, but he

His desire is meat but he

swallows it without chewing it.

Swallows it without chewing it

وليس بغّاءً صحيحاً بلى

وليس بغّاءً صحيحاً بلى

يُحِسُّ في أَسفله دَغْدَغَه

يُحِسُّ في أَسفله دَغْدَغَه

And is he not a true passive sodomite? Yes indeed:

And he's not a real homosexual, but yes

he feels a tickling in his bottom.

He feels a tickle in his lower parts

دونكه سهلَ الثنا صَعْبَهُ

دونكه سهلَ الثنا صَعْبَهُ

لا ألكنَ اللفظِ ولا أَلْثَغَه

لا ألكنَ اللفظِ ولا أَلْثَغَه

Take it—easy in its turns, yet hard in them,

Beneath you, easy to blame but hard

neither inarticulate in its wording nor lisping.

To utter words or make them eloquent

يُقالُ عجباً بالذي صاغه

يُقالُ عجباً بالذي صاغه

قاتلَهُ اللهُ فما أَصْوَغَه

قاتلَهُ اللهُ فما أَصْوَغَه

They say, marveling at the one who fashioned it:

It is said with wonder about the one who formed him

God smite him—what a craftsman he is!

May God curse him, how well he formed him