هَلا سَتَرْتَ الشَّيْنَ بالزَّيْنِ
مِن قَبْلِ إِحْضَارِ الوَزِيرَيْنِ
Why did you not veil ugliness with beauty
before summoning the two viziers?
قد عَلِمَا أَنَّهُمَا أُحْضِرا
لخَلْوةٍ أَثْقَلَ مِن دَينِ
The two knew that they had been brought
to a private audience more burdensome than debt.
لمّا تَدَانَتْ قابَ قَوْسَيْنِ
أَصابَهَا الحاسِدُ بالعَيْنِ
When the two drew near, to within two bow-lengths,
the envier struck them both with the evil eye.
فانْصَرفا مِثْلَ انْصِرافِ الفَتَى
أَسْلَمَ إِلْفاً ليَدِ البَينِ
So the two departed like the departure of a youth
who yields his beloved to the hand of separation.
صَدَّهُمَا مِن قِرْدِك المُصْطَفَى
نَطْحَة نَطَّاحٍ برَوْقَينِ
What drove them both from your chosen monkey was
the butt of a butting beast with two horns.
وما رأَى النَّاسُ على ما مَضَى
مِن قَبْلِهِ قِرْداً بقَرْنَينِ
Never, in all time past, had people seen
before him a monkey with two horns.
أَرْبَعَةٌ في مَجْلِسٍ جُمِّعُوا
فطارَ هَذَانِ بهَذَينِ
Four were gathered together in an assembly;
then these two flew off with these two.
قد لَزِمَا جَنْبَيْكَ لم يَبْرَحَا
لَهْفِي على ضَيْعةِ جَنْبَينِ
Those two had clung to your sides, never leaving—
alas for two flanks gone to waste!
فأَنْتَ ما بَيْنَهُمَا جالِسٌ
جُلُوسَ أَيْرٍ بَيْنَ خُصْيَينِ
And there you sit between the pair,
as a penis sits between two testicles.
Sol 5.6