عيوبٌ لابن مالكَ قد كفَتنى
عَناءَ الذمِّ فيه والأهاجى
Ibn Malik's faults have spared me
Faults of Ibn Malik have wearied me
the trouble of censuring him and composing lampoons.
Of blaming him or railing bitterly.
بلى قالوا له جارٌ جرىءٌ
على نِسوان عمال الخراجِ
Yes, they say he has a neighbor who is bold
Nay, some have charged that he, a neighbor, dared
with the wives of the land-tax officials.
To flirt with women who collect the tax;
وليس بطالبٍ منهنّ شيأ
سوى طلب الديوك من الدَّجاجِ
And he seeks nothing from them
He seeks from them but what a rooster takes
but what roosters seek from hens.
From hens—just eggs, and nothing else in fact.
له رمحٌ بأسفلِ حالبيْهِ
يجيد الطعنَ في يوم الهياجِ
He has a spear at the base of his two ureters;
Below his robes a spear concealed does rest
he excels at thrusting on the day of frenzy.
Well skilled to thrust in any fierce attack.
وقد نقَهتْ عليه عِرسُ يحيَى
على وجه التداوى والعلاجِ
And Yahya's wife has recovered upon it,
And cures for him the healer Yahya sought
by way of healing and treatment,
To heal and help what maladies he lacked,
لأنَّ بها على ما قيل يَبْسا
وأنّ صديقَها رطبُ المِزاجِ
because she has dryness, so it is said,
Since, so they say, from wetness he does suffer,
and her friend is moist in temperament.
While his friend is quite blessed with moist in tact.
فحاز النَّيكَ رِحْمٌ فيلسوفٌ
ببرهانٍ صحيحٍ واحتجاجِ
Thus a philosophical womb won a fuck,
So in the end our wise philosopher
by sound proof and argument.
By valid logic his good name extracted.
فلا تفْرِر بها شرقا وغربا
فما أحدٌ من الحدثانِ ناجِ
So do not flee with her eastward and westward,
Then spread no tales of him through east and west
for no one escapes the vicissitudes of time.
For no newcomer leaves a hero sacked.
Sol 6.1