عَجَباً من ذا الزمانِ الساقِطِ

كيفَ لا يرفعُ الهابِطُ

How strange is this degraded age

That does not raise the fallen one

يخْبِطُ العشواءَ في أحكامِه

وكما يُعرَفُ حالُ الخابِطِ

It gropes blindly in its laws

As is known, the state of the groping one

لا تظنّني عنه راضياً

إنّني أُخْفي ضَميرَ الساخِطِ

Do not think I am pleased with it

I conceal the feelings of the discontent one

قطعَ اللهُ نياطاً ما لَهُ

في تَسابِيبِ العُلا من نائطِ

May God sever the bosom friend

Who has no merit in noble lineages

وتولّى زمَناً غُرتُه

لُطِّخَتْ من أهلِه بالغائطِ

And assume an era whose pride

Was stained by its people with feces

لُطِّخَتْ منهُ بما لم يُنْقِه

دون أن يُسْلَخَ كفُّ السامِطِ

Stained by what did not cleanse it

Without the palm of the filthy one being skinned

أيها القابضُ عنّي جاهَهُ

إنّني مشتغلٌ بالباسطِ

O you who withheld your support from me

I am busy with the outstretcher

أعِدِ الحسبانَ في مسألةٍ

جئتَ فيها بحسابٍ غالطِ

Recalculate in an issue

In which you came with a wrong calculation

ربِّ أنصف قلماً من إبرةٍ

تجعلُ الكاتبَ دون الخائطِ

Lord, do justice to a pen of a needle

That makes the writer inferior to the wall

يا بن من حُلَّتْ عُرى عُصْعُصِها

فهي لم توثَقْ بعَقْدِ الرابطِ

O son of her whose flimsy ropes were undone

So she did not tie a firm knot

لكُما بيتٌ سمعنا ذِكْرَهُ

بُغيةَ الزاني به واللائِطِ

You both have a house whose mention we heard

For the purpose of the adulterer and the sneaky one

أبداً ترتضيا دَفْعَيهما

لا تقولا لزبونٍ شارطِ

You will always accept their payment

Do not say to a bargaining client

كسُلَ الدهرُ ولا بدّ لنا

أن نرى منه وثوبَ الناشِطِ

Time has been lazy and we have no choice

But to see the garment of the active one from it