رأيت أبا زرارة قال يوما — Alhamdoui

I saw Abu Zurara say one day

to his doorkeeper, a keen sword in his hand:

“If the dining table is laid and anyone appears,

I shall surely snatch off your head—and that is final!”

He said, “Except your father, for he is an old man,

hateful, whom words cannot restrain.”

So he rose and, in anger, addressed him

with a verse in which standing was not mentioned:

“My father, my father's two sons, and the dog, to me,

are of equal rank when food arrives.”

And he said to him, “Explain to me, you son of a dog:

given my account, am I to be fleeced or wronged?

When food arrives, there are no rights

owed by me to my parents, nor any bond of duty.

For nothing on earth is uglier than a dining table

with bread upon it and a crowd gathered round.”