قلت لقومٍ سادةٍ قادةٍ

يا سادةً تُعلَى مآخيرُها

I said to eminent leaders,

O leaders, their ends are exalted,

أضحى المخانيث ينيكونكم

وناكَةُ الناس مذاكيرها

The effeminate have come to ravish you,

And people's scoffing their minds.

مالي أرى ناكتكم غلمةً

كالحور صانتْها مقاصيرها

Why do I see your scoffers as boys,

Like houris whose chastity was guarded?

مؤنَّثي الخَلْق لهم أعينٌ

دلالُها بادٍ وتفتيرها

Feminized in creation, they have eyes

Whose coquetry is manifest and their winking.

فقال شيخ منهمُ عاقلٌ

فكِّرْ فهادِي النفس تفكيرُها

So a wise old man among them said,

Think, for composed souls their thinking.

هل وَضَع الفيشةَ تأنيثُها

أو رفع الأحراحَ تذكيرها

Did making it feminine place the bodkin,

Or elevating passions make it masculine?

قد ذُكِّرتْ هذي وقد أُنِّثتْ

هاتيك والتظفير تظفيرها

This one was masculinized and that feminized,

And fingernail polish their polishing.

أما ترى الفيشة قد مُكِّنتْ

في الأرض فالتدبير تدبيرها

Don't you see that the bodkin was enabled

To penetrate the earth, so management its management?

فاغضبْ على الأشياء أو خلِّها

بحيث أجرتْها مقاديرها

So be angry at things or leave them

To where destiny has led them.