أَتوعدُني الهوانَ فليتَ شِعري

أهذا القولُ جائزةٌ لشعري

Do you threaten me with disgrace? Would that I knew!

Is this the reward for my poetry,

وهذا كانَ منكَ جزاءَ مَدْحي

وَكَدَّ قريحَتي وعناءَ فِكري

And this was your recompense for my praise,

That exhausted my talent and the toil of my thought?

فماذا للهجاء تركتَ ممّا

يُهانُ به أَخو نَظمٍ وَنَثْر

What did you spare in railing that could be used

To dishonor a kindred composer of prose and verse?

فإنْ يَكُ ذا الوعيدُ بأخذ روحي

كما أوعدتَني يا طولَ عُمري

If that threat to take my life away

Was in earnest, as you told me, may you live long!

وَخوَّفنيكَ أَقوام وقالوا

سَتَلقى من بُها طُنَ كلَّ ضرِّ

And some people frightened me, saying,

“You will get barrels of afflictions from Buha.”

وقالوا سوفَ تَسقيني سموماً

يَسيلُ بها خَراي ولستُ أدري

And they said, “He will give you poisons

That will make my guts flow, though I know nothing of it.”

وَتُصلتُ شفرة لكَ ذاتَ حد

وَتَضربُني بها في عين ظَهْري

And they sent you a sharpened sword,

To strike me with it in the back.

وَتَطْبُخُني مُصوصاً بعدَ ذَبحي

وتأكُلُ من مَصاريني وَدُبري

And to cook me well-done after slaughtering me

And eat of my intestines and rear-parts.

فأرعدْ ثمَّ أَبرِقٍ في وَعيدي

وقل ما شِئتَ منْ خيرٍ وَشَرِّ

So thunder and lightening in your threats against me,

And say whatever good or evil you wish.

وَكُنْ كالتّيسِ ذا نابٍ وَقُرنٍ

وَكن كالكلبِ ذا نابٍ وَظُفرِ

And be like a billy-goat with tusks and horns,

Or like a dog with fangs and claws.

سَتَلْقى للّذي أَعدَدْتَ جَلْداً

ولَو أَصليتَهُ لَفَحات جمرِ

You will get what you have prepared a skin for,

And if you tanned it, it would peel from the heat.

نَسيت كفاحَنا في ستِّ بَدْرٍ

بما أَنساكَ وَقعةَ يومِ بَدْرِ

You forgot our battle on the six days of Badr,

With what made you forget the event of Badr’s day?

وَقَد أَبدَيْتَ لي أُذُنَي حمارٍ

وَعَيْنَي كلبةٍ وَسَبالَ هرِّ

And you showed me the ears of a donkey,

And the eyes of a bitch and the fangs of a pig.

وَلَمّا أنْ فَرَرتَ قَتَلْتَ كُرّاً

وَعُدتَ فَكُنْتَ ذا كرٍّ وَفَرِّ

And when you fled, you killed “retreat”,

And returned, so you were both “advance” and “retreat.”

ولولا جاءني عَلَم لنَصري

كميتاً ما ظفرتَ إذاً بنَصر

And had a sign of my victory not come to me,

You would not have won any victory when I died.

سَقاكَ بنَعلهِ كاسات صَفعٍ

سكرتَ بشُربها منمْ غَير خمرِ

He made you drink cups of cuffing with his slipper,

You got drunk on drinking them, without wine.

فَما وأخذتُهُ بَلْ قلتُ سُكراً

بساطُ الشكر يُطوى بعد نَشر

But I took it as merely tipsiness

And the carpet of thanks is folded after being spread.

مَدَدْتُ فَقالَ بعدَ القَصْر علماً

بها قد جاءَ في مَدٍّ وقَصْر

I extended it, and after limiting me, he said,

The sign came with extension and limitation.

فَلا تَكُ طائشاً كالكمبَهَستي

وقد أغراهُ قَولُ القمبَعَرِّي

So do not be reckless like the cambahsti

Lead astray by what the liar told him.

وَكُنْ كخرا تَلوكُ البوزَكستي

أميرَ الروم في أَكنافِ مصرِ

And be like the ass eating colocynth from the Byzantine ruler

Among the bosoms of Egypt’s women.

وَقَدْ صَفوا بها الأعداءَ جَيشاً

لطرْطرِّ ابن خرْي العُدِّ خُرِّي

And the foe had prepared there armies

For Turturi son of Khori to incite confusion.

وكانوا احدَثوا فيها أُموراً

لقَول بَلّغوهُ بَخْتَ نَصْرِ

And they had planned there strange affairs,

Because of what they told Bakhtnasr.

وفي تيساً تكونُ وَكَلْبَكُنْتا

تأسٍ لو عَقَلْتَ لكُلِّ حر

So, you would be a billy-goat and your bitch

If you had any reason for any free man.

وَقَدْ جَدَعَ أنفَ كُنتَ فَما تلكّى

ولا نادى لذلكَ يا لَبَكر

They cut off your nose when you were a cunt,

And none lamented that, O Labkar!

وأُمُّ خُراذقَ العَذراءَ لمّا

رآها الُعْقُطريّا غيرَ بكر

And the mother of the maid Khurazad, when

She was seen by the Uqayri not a virgin,

وَقَد ضَرَطَ الجَنينُ بحانبَيْها

لَدَى كُهّانهمْ برُقىً وَسحرْ

The embryo voided feces next to her,

At their soothsayers with amulet and magic.

أعيذُك يا بهَاطنُ أن تُوافي

وَوَجْهُك من جهامَته يخَرِّي

I seek refuge for you, O hidden one, from one who comes to you

While his face drips from his nocturnal emission.