يا قحطبيُّ كما يقالُ وربما

رُمي البريءُ بأعظمِ البُهتانِ

O wood-gatherer, as it is said, and perhaps

The innocent is accused of the greatest slander

أيقود قحطبةُ الجيوشَ مُسوَّماً

بالخافقين كحُوَّم العِقبان

Does the wood-gatherer lead armies marked

With banners like the neck of a vulture?

وتقود عرسَك للزناة مسوَّماً

بالقَرنِ مُعترفاً بكلِّ هوان

And you lead your wedding to the adulterers marked

With horns, confessing to all disgrace

يا رُب أضيافٍ جعلتَ قراهُمُ

سُمَّانةً ليست من السُّمَّان

O Lord of guests who made their villages

To be invested but not of the invested

باتتْ تُشاوِلُهم برجلَيْ سمحةٍ

تُنسِي المُطاعن جَذْلَ كلِّ طِعان

She entertains them with tolerant feet

Forgetting reproaches, ignoring all blame

ألّا اتَّعظْتَ وقد رأيتَ مَواسمي

هيهاتَ ثَقَّل رَأسَك القرنان

If only you had learned when you saw my seasons

Alas, your head was weighed down by the horns

ولقد رأيتُ من الرجال معاشراً

ثَقُلت رؤوسهمُ بلا تيجان

And I have seen groups of men

Whose heads were heavy without crowns

كم آمن منِّي العُرامَ تركتُهُ

لا يستظل الدهرَ ظلَّ أمان

How safe did I believe the barefoot to be when I left him

Not shaded in life with the shade of safety

أَصْحَبْتُه في ليله ونهارهِ

خوفاً يؤرِّقُ مُقلةَ الوسنان

I accompanied him night and day

In fear that disturbs the twisting of the mustache

أشعرتُه خوفاً يصوِّرني له

صوراً ممثلةً بكل مكان

I made him fear, picturing myself to him

In images present in every place

قد قلتُ إذ قالوا هجاك تعجباً

أنى تفرغ خالد فهجاني

When they said you satirized him, I said in wonder

When did Khaled find time to satirize me?

ما كنتُ أحسِبُ أن في خَطراته

وهمومه فضلاً عن الجرذان

I did not think that in his concerns

And worries there was any time left over from the rats

حتى أتاني بالمغيب هجاؤه

فعلمتُ أني عندَهُ بمكان

Until his satire came to me at sunset

And I knew that to him I was of some significance

كم قد خطبتَ إليَّ أيري جاهداً

حتى إذا أعيا خطبْتَ لساني

How you have proposed to me, striving

Until, when your tongue was exhausted, you proposed mine