1. أَيُّها الفاسي أَتى ريـ

    ـحُكَ قَبلَ النَجو يَفغَم

    O man of Fez, your wind has come,

    before your excrement, assailing the nostrils,

  2. في قَريض حَسَن الصو

    رة بِالهَجو مُجذَّم

    in verse of lovely form,

    maimed by invective.

  3. فَقَبلناه وَقَد جا

    ءَ لَنا بِالمَدح مُعلَم

    So we accepted it; it had come

    to us adorned with praise.

  4. ثُمّ قُلنا بِمزاحٍ

    مِنكَ يَوماً لَيسَ يُعدَم

    Then we spoke in jest,

    the kind never lacking from you on any day:

  5. إِنَّما الشَأن فَقِيهٌ

    عالِمٌ لَيسَ يعلَّم

    The real wonder is a jurist—

    a scholar who is not taught.

  6. لا تَراه الدَهرَ إِلّا

    بِغَريم الكَأس مُغرَم

    You never see him, ever, except

    enamored of the cup's rival.

  7. يَرفُضُ النفلَ مَع الفَر

    ض أَوانَ الزير وَالبَم

    He rejects voluntary and obligatory prayer

    when the treble and bass strings sound.

  8. وَإِذا صَلّى رياء

    كانَ فيها مثلَ أَبكَم

    And when he prays for show,

    he is at prayer like a mute,

  9. في ثِياب كَرَبيع

    قَد سَرى فيها المحرَّم

    in clothes like springtime,

    through which the forbidden has spread.

  10. ذا جَوابي وَهوَ ظُلمٌ

    لَكَ وَالبادئ أَظلَم

    This is my reply, and it is a wrong

    to you—but he who began is more unjust.