عتاب يا حطيئة أم هجاء

صواب ما ادعيته أم خطاء

Is it reproach, O Hutayʾa, or satire?

Is what you claimed right or wrong?

أعد نظرا اذن يا عبد قيس

وفي هذا المقال لنا اكتفاء

Look again, then, O Abd Qays,

and these words are enough for us.

تقول لى الأسافل قد رجعنا

وللؤماء ما هذا البذاء

You tell me, “We have returned to the lowliest

and to the ignoble”—what foul language is this!

وتزعم أننا فيكم زهدنا

لأنكم الكرام وإذا اجتراء

And you claim that we have lost interest in you

because you are the noble ones—what audacity!

وتعجب من معارف عند مثلي

لها كالعشق في نظري انتهاء

And you marvel that friendships, with one like me,

have, like love, an end in my view.

وقلت إلى السقيم بها هنيئا

على الإبلال دام لك الشفاء

And you told the one ailing from them, “Congratulations

on your recovery; may you stay well!”

فخذها يا حطيئة من جرير

فأنا اليوم في التهجا سواء

Then take this, O Hutayʾa, from Jarir:

for today I am your equal in exchanging satire.

نصبت العتب فخا لا غتياظي

فكان بديله مني الرضاء

You set reproach as a snare to anger me,

but from me came contentment instead.

ولو جنح الحجي مني لهجو

لكان لكم بما قلت اقتداء

And had my reason inclined toward satire,

you would have found a model to follow in my words.

كؤوس بيننا في العتب دارت

فكان من الهجاء بها انتشاء

Cups went round between us in reproach,

and through them came the intoxication of satire.

وهب هذا العتاب تراه مرا

فمنشأه المودة والإخاء

And suppose you find this reproach bitter:

its source is affection and brotherhood.

ترقب مقدمي واصفح كصفحي

وكف الصفح ساعدها الصفاء

Await my arrival, and forgive as I forgive,

and purity of heart is the arm supporting forgiveness’s hand.