يا ابْن المدبِّر غرَّني الروَّادُ

عَمِرُوا وليس لهم سواك مَرادُ

O son of the deceiver, the hosts have deceived me,

They lived well and had none but you as their desire,

أدعو على الشُّعراء أخبثَ دعوة

إذْ مجَّدُوك وغيرُك الأمجادُ

I invoke upon the poets the most wicked invocation,

For they glorified you while others are the glories,

قل لي بأية حيلة أعملْتَها

هتفوا بأنك لا حُفِظْتَ جوادُ

Tell me what trick you used,

They proclaimed you kept no generosity,

فَلَتِلْكَ أحسنُ من نوالك موقعاً

والعِلم أفضلُ ما أراه يُفادُ

To that end it is better for you to get a good position,

And knowledge is the best thing I see that benefits,

لقد استفاض لك الثناءُ بحيلةٍ

صعْبُ الأمورِ بمثلها ينقادُ

Praise for you has spread with a trick,

Difficult matters are subdued by the like of it,

لو أنَّها عندي غدوتُ مخلَّداً

ما خُلِّدتْ أمُّ الهضاب نَضَادُ

If I had it, I would have become immortalized,

The Mother of Plateaus would not have become immortal,

حتى كأنِّي في صرارك درهمٌ

أو في مَزاودك الحريزة زادُ

It is as if I am a dirham in your pouches,

Or the treasure in your bidding and bartering,

بل ما عهدتُك وارتيادُك بالغٌ

بك حيلةً يرتادها المرتادُ

But I did not know you and your frequenting to be eloquent,

With you a trick he plans to frequent,

أنَّى وأنتَ مضلَّلٌ لا تهتدي

رُشداً ولا يَهْديكَه إرشادُ

How could you be guided, you who are misguided,

To righteousness, and no guidance guides you,

ما كان مِثْلُكَ يهتدي لمحالة

حاشاك ذاك وأنْ تكون تُكادُ

The like of you cannot possibly be guided,

Far be it from you, that is improbable,

لكنَّ جدْبَ الناس طال فأصبحوا

يُرضيهمُ الإبراقُ والإرعادُ

But people's sterility has been prolonged so they are pleased

With lightning and thunder,

نحلَتْكَ حَمْدَ الحامديك مَواعدٌ

كُذُبٌ تجودُ بها وأنت جمادُ

Your praised bestowed on you false promises,

Lies you generous with, yet you are inanimate,

بل ليس في الأفقين منك سحابةٌ

للوعْدِ مِبراقٌ ولا مرْعادُ

But there is no cloud in the two horizons from you,

A lightning for promise, nor a thunder for appointment,

ولأنت أحْسَمُ للمطامع والمنى

من ذاك حين يَشيمُك الروَّادُ

You are most decisive against hopes and wishes,

When the hosts expose you,

أنت الذي آلى بكلِّ أليَّةٍ

ألا يُبَلَّ بريقه ميعادُ

You who has failed with every failure,

That his brilliance not be moistened with appointment,

بل أنت أجدر حين تُسْأَل أن تُرى

ومكان وعدك سائلاً إيعادُ

But you are most deserving when asked to be seen,

And instead of your promise, the questioner returns,

ما أنت والمعروف أو مفتاحُه

ذهبتْ بذَينك دونك الأجوادُ

What are you and the good deed or its key?

Your minds have taken you far from generosity,

لكن إخال معاشراً خيَّبتهُمْ

نصبوا الحبائل للأُسى فأجادوا

But associating with a people you disappointed,

They set up intrigues for sorrow so they succeeded,

أثنوا عليك ليستميحك غيرُهُمْ

فيخيبَ خيبتَهم وتلك أرادوا

They praised you so others would appease you,

So their disappointment is disappointed, and that is what they wanted,

أعيى عليهم صيدُ مالك فاغتدوا

يتعلَّلون بأُسْوةٍ تُصطادُ

The prey of what you possess has escaped them so they transgressed,

Justifying themselves with an example that is hunted,

ولهم أُسىً متقدماتٌ جمَّةٌ

لكن أحبَّ القوْم أن يزدادوا

And they have abundant prior sorrow,

But the people most loved to increase,

أُثني عليك بمثل ريحك ميِّتاً

في غبِّ يوم تزفُّك الأعوادُ

I praise you with winds like you dead,

On an absent day your biers carry you,

ولما صداك إذا نُبِشْتَ لثالثٍ

من مُلْحَدٍ وضجيعُك الإلحادُ

And when your voice is called if exhumed a third time,

By an atheist and your companion is atheism,

يوماً بأنتن منك حيّاً تُجتَدى

لا زال نتنُك دائباً يزدادُ

One day stinking of you alive are kindled,

Your stink does not cease to increase,

وغدت بجودك شبهةٌ خدَّاعةٌ

قامتْ ببخلك بعدها الأشهادُ

You became with your generosity a deceitful suspicion,

After it testimonies arose with your stinginess,

أرويتُ بالإصدار عنك حوائمي

لما أطال غليلَها الإيرادُ

I quenched with your issuance my fervors,

When their resentment had prolonged duration,

وسلوتُ ذكراك التي من مثلها

تَجْوى القلوبُ وتقْرحُ الأكبادُ

And I consoled your mention that the hearts,

Are inflamed by the like of it and the livers are gashed,

آنستُ صدراً طالما أوحشْتَه

لا زال يُؤنس رحْلَك العُوَّادُ

I befriended a breast you had long made desolate,

Your departing company does not cease to console it,

وكأنَّ ذاك الذكْر أسودُ يعْتري

منه سويداء الفؤاد سَوادُ

It is as if that mention is darkness that spreads,

From it the blackness of the heart spreads,

بل إنما اتصلتْ بذكرك خَطْرَتي

أيامَ صدري ليس فيه فؤادُ

But my thoughts joined your mention truly,

Days of my breast in which there is no heart,

فاذهب كما ذهب السَّقَامُ إلى التي

ما بعدها للذاهبين معادُ

So go just as malady went to she,

After whom there is for the departed no return,

لا تَبْعدنَّ من الذي تُكْنَى به

وهو الذي تفسيرُه الإبعادُ

Do not distance from the one you are nicknamed,

And he is the one whose interpretation is distancing,

شاورتَ فيَّ وفي ثوابي خالياً

رأياً لعمرك لا يليه سدادُ

You consulted regarding me and my reward in private,

An opinion, by your life, followed by no propriety,

فأراك حرماني وقال قوارصٌ

تأتيك أنت لمثلها معتادُ

So I see you depriving me, and the watchers said,

You come for the likes of it accustomed,

خَيَّبْتَني ثقةً بلؤمك إنه

لمن استعد لشاتمٍ لَعتادُ

You disappointed me a trust with your vices, he is,

For one who prepares for an insulter, a habitual one,

عن مثله نكص الهجاء مقهقِراً

ونَبَتْ سيوفُ الشتم وهي حِدادُ

The likes of it invective recoils retreating,

And the swords of insult sprang up sharpened,

لا أنَّ لؤمَك جُنَّة لكنه

نَجَسٌ يعاف ورودَه الورَّادُ

Not that your vices are a shield, but it,

Is impure, its roses shunned by the perfumers,

كم ذاد عنك من الهجاء غريبةً

لا يستطيع ذِيادها الذُّوَّادُ

How much it defended you from invective strangely,

The vinegrowers cannot increase it,

فاشكره إن خلَّاك تشكر منعماً

سُدٌّ أمامك منه بل أسدادُ

So thank it if it left you to thank a benefactor,

A barrier in front of you, but more so barricades,

لو رُمْتَ صالحةً لغالك دونها

سجنٌ وقيدٌ منه بل أَقيادُ

If you had desired a conciliation beneath it,

Imprisonment and shackles from it but more so fetters,

لا زال ذاك السجن منك مظنةً

وتضاعفتْ فيه لك الأصفادُ

That prison remains from you a presumption,

And your restraints in it multiplied,

لؤْمٌ أبى لك شكْرَ ما أولاكَهُ

والشرُّ منه لنفْسِه أمْدادُ

Vice refused you gratitude for what endowed you,

And evil for itself is aid,

وأما وذاك اللؤم لؤْماً إنه

لؤمٌ سبقتَ به الزمان تِلادُ

As for that vice being vice, it is,

Vice you preceded the eras begetting,

لئن اجتوتك له شتائم أصبحتْ

من شتمها إياه وهي تعادُ

If it gathered for you insults, they become,

From insulting it, reiterated,

لَتُلاقِينَّ شتائمي ناريَّةً

لا يجتويك حريقُها الوقَّادُ

You will surely meet my fiery invectives,

Its burning does not warm you climates,

فكذاك نار الهُون تَرْأم أهلها

حتى كأنَّهُمُ لها أولادُ

So is the fire of disgrace, it heals its people,

As if they are its children,

فاهرُبْ وأينَ بهاربٍ من طالبٍ

في كلِّ مُطَّلعٍ له مرصادُ

So flee, and where can a fleer from a pursuer flee,

In every emerging dawn for him there is an ambush,

خذها إليك من الملابس ملبساً

تشقى به الأرواحُ والأجسادُ

Take it to you from the clothes as a garment,

The souls and bodies suffer misery in it,

ضَنْكاً إذا زُرَّتْ عليك زُرُورُه

ضاق الخناق فلم يَسَعْكَ بلادُ

Straitness, if its accessories are brought upon you,

The strangulation narrows so the countries cannot contain you,

ولئنْ شقيت بلُبْسِ بردٍ مثلها

فلطالما شقِيَتْ بك الأبرادُ

And if you suffer in wearing the like of it cold,

Then the innocent suffered from you the deserts,

ولتخْزَيَنَّ بها إذا ما أنشدتْ

أضعافَ ما يُزْهَى بها الإنشادُ

And you will be disgraced with it if I recite,

Multiples of what makes recital ashamed,

لا تفرحنَّ بحسنها وجمالها

فليرحمنك فيهما الحسَّادُ

Do not rejoice in its beauty and grace,

For may the envious have mercy on you in them,

ولأرمينَّك بعدها بقصائد

فيها لكل رَميَّةٍ إقصادُ

And I will pelt you after it with poems,

In which for every pelting there is intention,

لو خَيَّسَتْ فرعونَ ذلَّ لوقعها

فرعونُ ذو الأوتاد والأوتادُ

If it disgraced Pharaoh fallen for its falling,

Pharaoh of the pegs and pegs would fall,

عُتْباك منها أن غضبْتَ مقالتي

ستُزادُ يا ابن مدبّرٍ وتُزادُ

Your anger at it that I spoke my saying,

Will increase O son of the deceiver, and increase,

من كل سائرةٍ بذمِّك يَرْتمي

بِركابها الأغْوار والأنجادُ

From every traveler in your dispraise casts,

With its riding animals the deserts and groves,

شنعاء تُضْرم فيك نار شناعةٍ

تبقى نوائرُها وأنت رمادُ

Ugly, igniting in you a fire of ugliness,

Its flames persist as you become ashes,

تحْبوك بدْأتُها بذكْرٍ نابِهٍ

عُقباه إخْمالٌ هو الإخْمادُ

I began it with a sharp mention,

Its conclusion is suppression, which is suppression,

ولَقلَّ ما يُجْدِي على متبجِّحٍ

ذكْرٌ يُماتُ بنَشْرِه فيُبادُ

And seldom does mention benefit an insolent one,

A mention that kills with its broadcasting so he perishes,

ما ينفع الحطبَ المحَرَّقَ في الصِّلا

ضوءٌ جريرتُه عليه فسادُ

The kindled firewood is not benefited in the ashes,

By a light whose flowing upon it is corruption.