قالوا لَنا ماتَ إِسحاقُ فَقُلتُ لَهُم

هَذا الدَواءُ الَّذي يَشفي مِنَ الحُمُقِ

They said to us Isaac died so I said to them

They told us that Ishaq had died, so I answered them,

This is the remedy that cures folly

"This is the medicine that cures the disease of folly."

إِن ماتَ ماتَ بِلا فَقدٍ وَلا أَسَفٍ

أَو عاشَ عاشَ بِلا خَلقٍ وَلا خُلُقِ

If he died he died without loss or regret

If he has died, he died unwept and unmissed,

Or if he lived he lived without morals or manners

And if he lives, he lives without character or soul.

مِنهُ تَعَلَّمَ عَبدٌ شَقَّ هامَتَهُ

خَونَ الصَديقِ وَدَسَّ الغَدرِ في المَلَقِ

From him a slave learned to hold his head high

From him, the slave who split his skull had learned

Betrayed a friend and slipped treachery into intimacy

To betray a friend and hide treason in flattery,

وَحَلفَ أَلفِ يَمينٍ غَيرَ صادِقَةٍ

مَطرودَةٍ كَكُعوبِ الرُمحِ في نَسَقِ

And swore a thousand dishonest oaths

And to swear a thousand oaths, not one of them true,

Cast off like spear tips in battle

Running on in succession like the joints of a spear.

ما زِلتُ أَعرِفُهُ قِرداً بِلا ذَنَبٍ

صِفراً مِنَ البَأسِ مَملوءًا مِنَ النَزَقِ

I've always known him to be an ape without a tail

I have ever known him as an ape without a tail,

Empty of valor, full of greed

Void of all courage, yet brimming with rashness.

كَريشَةٍ بِمَهَبِّ الريحِ ساقِطَةٍ

لا تَستَقِرُّ عَلى حالٍ مِنَ القَلَقِ

Like a feather in the wind, falling

Like a feather falling in the path of the wind,

Never settling in one state of restlessness

Never settling, trembling with constant unease.

تَستَغرِقُ الكَفُّ فَودَيهِ وَمَنكِبَهُ

وَتَكتَسي مِنهُ ريحَ الجَورَبِ العَرِقِ

His palms engulf his cheeks, and his shoulders

A single hand could engulf his temples and shoulder,

Cloaked in the stench of his sweaty socks

And catch from him the scent of a reeking, sweat-soaked sock.

فَسائِلوا قاتِليهِ كَيفَ ماتَ لَهُم

مَوتاً مِنَ الضَربِ أَو مَوتاً مِنَ الفَرَقِ

So ask his murderers how he died for them

So ask of his killers exactly how he died for them:

Whether by blows or ripped limb from limb

Was it death by the blow, or death from sheer terror?

وَأَينَ مَوقِعُ حَدِّ السَيفِ مِن شَبَحٍ

بِغَيرِ رَأسٍ وَلا جِسمٍ وَلا عُنُقِ

And where the sword struck that specter

For where could the edge of a sword strike a phantom

With neither head nor body nor neck

Possessing no head, nor body, nor even a neck?

لَولا اللِئامُ وَشَيءٌ مِن مُشابَهَةٍ

لَكانَ أَلأَمَ طِفلٍ لُفَّ في خِرَقِ

If not for villains and some resemblance

Were it not for base men and some semblance they share,

He'd be an infant wrapped in rags

He would be the vilest infant ever wrapped in rags.

كَلامُ أَكثَرِ مَن تَلقى وَمَنظَرُهُ

مِمّا يَشُقُّ عَلى الآذانِ وَالحَدَقِ

His talk bothered many who saw him

The words and the looks of most people you meet

Grating on ears and eyes alike

Are a torture that grates on the ears and the eyes.