أَتُنكِرُ ما نَطَقتُ بِهِ بَديهاً

وَلَيسَ بِمُنكَرٍ سَبقُ الجَوادِ

Do you deny what I have openly declared?

Do you deny the verse I uttered on the spot?

The steed outstripping is no strange affair.

Yet 'tis no wonder when the swift steed takes the lead.

أُراكِضُ مُعوِصاتِ الشِعرِ قَسراً

فَأَقتُلُها وَغَيري في الطِرادِ

The poetry nags I spur perforce to speed,

I race the stubborn, tangled knots of verse by force,

And kill, while others hunt them here and there.

And slay them, while others are but starting in the chase.