للحُريثيِّ أبي بكرٍ غَبَبْ

وله قَرنانِ أيضاً وذَنَبْ

Abu Bakr al-Huraithi has a protruding forehead

And he has two horns and a tail as well

فإذا ما قال إنّا عَجمٌ

قال قرناه جميعاً قد كَذَبْ

So if he says that he is a non-Arab

Both his horns altogether say he lied

وإذا ما قال إنا عربٌ

دفعتْ ذاك ولم ترضَ العربْ

And if he says that he is an Arab

That claim is rejected and the Arabs are not pleased

وإذا ما قال إني شاعرٌ

قيل خُذْ كلَّ شقيٍّ بالطَّرَبْ

And if he says that he is a poet

It is said, let this miserable one perish in agony

ما ترى لابن حُريثٍ حَسباً

أتُراهُ جاء من بَيْض التُّربْ

Do you not see that Ibn Huraith has no lineage

Do you think he came from eggs in the soil?

كَتَمَتْهُ أمُّهُ آباءهُ

فلهذا أنكر القومُ النسبْ

His mother hid his fathers from him

Thus the people denied his ancestry

لم تزل عِرسُ حُريثٍ مركباً

لجميع الناس تُحنَى للرُّكبْ

The camel litter of Huraith has never stopped

Being mounted by all people for rides

لك وجهٌ محكمٌ صنعتُهُ

ما تَرى عُقِّب إلا بعَقبْ

You have an ugly face that I created

I do not see it countered except by a counter-ugly face

جُثَّةُ الكشْخانِ تُنْبي أنها

جُمِعتْ نُطفتُها من ألفِ أبْ

The body of al-Kashkhan proclaims it

Was conceived from the sperm of a thousand fathers

كلَّ يومٍ لك فيهِ نسبٌ

زادك الرحمنُ في هذا التعبْ

Every day you are ascribed a new ancestry

May God increase your suffering in this exertion

أنت ما تنفكُّ من تصحيحهِ

في عناءٍ واشتغالٍ ونصَبْ

You do not stop correcting it

In hardship, occupation, and difficulties

لستَ من نطفة فحلٍ واحدٍ

أنت من كلّ قريبٍ وجُنُبْ

You are not from the seed of one stallion

You are from every relative and stranger

عاب أشعاري وفي منزله

كلُّ عيبٍ ومخازٍ ورِيَبْ

He blamed my poetry while in his house

Is every fault, vice, and corruption

لم تضِح قطُّ له نسبتُهُ

كيف والأعراقُ فيه لم تَطِبْ

Your lineage has never been clear to him

How could it be when the roots in it are not wholesome?

أنا لا أشتمُ إلّا أمَّهُ

فليزدني غضباً فوق غضبْ

I only insult his mother

Let him increase his anger above anger

وليقُلْ ما شاء في شتمي له

إن طبعي شيمةٌ لا مُكتَسبْ

And let him say what he wishes in insulting me

For my nature is abuse, not acquired

ما لمن يُغمَزُ في أنسابه

ولِعَيبِ الشعرِ من أهل الأدبْ

What is wrong with one whose ancestry is disparaged

And the critics of poetry from the literary people?

إنْ يكُنْ يطلبُ شتمي أمَّهُ

فلقد نال الذي مني طلبْ

If he seeks my insulting his mother

He has gotten what he sought from me

أو يكن بابن عِياضٍ فاخراً

فلعمري فيه فخرٌ وحَسَبْ

Or is he boasting with Ibn ‘Iyad

By my life, in him is pride and merit

ما ترى فيه لهُ من مَغْمزٍ

لا وأنسابِ حُريثٍ في النَسَبْ

Do you not see in him a single blemish?

No, and the ancestry of Huraith is in genealogy

إنما ناك قديماً أختَهُ

ففَخارُ الوغدِ في هذا السَبَبْ

It is only his sister who mounted you long ago

Thus the pride of the despicable one is for this reason

كم لها من كربةٍ فرَّجها

بالعياضيّ إذا الأمرُ كَرَبْ

How many troubles has she relieved for him

With al-‘Iyadi when the matter was grave

كلُّكُمْ آل حُريثٍ عُرَّةٌ

لعن الله حريثاً وكَتَبْ

All of you, O family of Huraith, are a pack

May God curse Huraith and inscribe it