فَجرَنا يَنابيعَ الكَلامِ وَبَحرَهُ

فَأَصبَحَ فيهِ ذو الرِوايَةِ يَسبَحُ

Our dawn brought forth fountains of speech and its sea,

So he who would tell tales began to swim in it.

وَما الشِعرُ إِلّا شِعرُ قَيسٍ وَخِندَفٍ

وَقَولُ سِواهُم كُلفَةٌ وَتَمَلُّحُ

Poetry is naught but verse of Qays and Khindif,

While all else besides is affectation and embellishment.