تَتبعُ سواي امرءاً يبتغي

سِبابَكَ إن هواكَ الشبابُ

You follow a man seeking

Seek someone other than me—a man who desires

your insults. If it is your passion, O youth,

To trade insults with you, if youth is what drives your folly.

فإنّي أبَيتُ طِلابَ الشَفاه

وصُنتُ مَحَلّي عمّا يُعابُ

Yet I have refused suitors of lips

For I have refused to stoop to petty dispute,

And guarded my place from what would be blamed.

And protected my dignity from anything that invites reproach.

وقُل وما بدا لكَ من بعد ذا

واكثر فإن سكوتي جوابُ

Say what seemed good to you after this,

So say whatever pleases you after this,

And say on, for my silence is the answer.

And say as much as you will, for my silence is an answer.