1. And with raging determination I decided
To make him hear it though my hearing is not keen.

2. Had I wished, I'd not have turned away until
I'd struck him on his nose with a cleft that tears with remorse.

3. For the tongue's impact is no less severe
Than the smallest traces of carving with an axe.

4. And he who bears malice he did not reveal
Is like one possessed whose soul none can appease.

5. I was forgiving toward him, with lasting clemency, like his own,
While he knows nothing of my forbearance and vigilance over him.

6. And if the boiling in his chest bursts forth,
I have a staunch rebuff no apologizer can restore.

7. I purified him of all bitterness and so squeezed him
Of every virulent disease, a healer.

8. A cure and antidote - when mixed with it,
It treats perfectly one in doubt or in despair.

9. But people's flesh is mostly the nourishment of the wicked,
The gluttonous gormandizer, after hope is lost, covetous.

10. I left him my flesh and kept for him his own
For whoever turns to the jinn or mankind.

11. So he struggled a little, then turned away, as if
He were biting deaf rock, steadfast mountain.