Claude 2

  1. قل للألَى حرموني إذ مدحتُهُمُ

    إمّا الثوابُ وإما ردُّكم خِلَعي

    Tell those who have denied me kindness when I praised them,

    Either reward or your rejection will strip me of my garb.

  2. تاللَهِ لكنَّ زيْناً في النَّدى لكُمُ

    عارٌ عليَّ بما أبديت من ضَرعي

    By God! Your beauty in the dew was indeed adornment,

    While pleading was for me disgrace.

  3. فإن أبيتم عليّ الخلَّتينِ معاً

    فلا يلومُ مُليمٌ ناله قذعي

    If you refuse me both garments,

    Let no blamer blame me if bareness befalls me.

  4. لا قاتَل اللَّه ربُّ الناس لؤمَكُمُ

    بل قاتل الكاذبَ المكذوب من طمعي

    May God not bless the people's Lord for your villainy!

    Rather, curse the liar and the lie against my hopes!

  5. أمَا لئن كَثُرتْ في مدحِكُمْ بِدعي

    لتكثرنَّ غداً في شتمكم بِدَعي

    But, by God, if in praising you I have been excessive,

    Tomorrow in insulting you my excess will be more.

  6. إني حمدتُكُمُ والذمُّ حقكُمُ

    لمَّا جعلْتم إلى الرحمنِ مُنْقَطعي

    I praised you though blame is your rightful due

    When you showed yourself as turning to the Merciful.

  7. أدبتموني فأحسنتم ببخسكمُ

    حق الأديب فهذا حين متَّزعي

    You have disciplined me and done well in your meanness,

    A poet's right, and this is the time of my dismay.

  8. ولو جُدِعْتُ على أني مدحتُكُمُ

    ما شانني شينَ مدحي فيكُمُ جَدَعي

    If I were hacked to pieces for praising you,

    No disgrace in my praise among you would put me to shame.

  9. ما جاء من سوء بذري خُبثُ ريعكمُ

    عند ازدراعيَ بل من خُبث مُزْدرعي

    The vileness of the harvest from my seed's corruption

    Comes not from my sowing, but the vileness of what I sowed.