رأيتُ نسا هذا الزمان خبائي

فطلّقتُ زنبوراً هناك ثلاثا

I saw the women of this time full of guile,

I found the people of this age to be utterly base,

So I divorced a wasp there three times.

So I cast off Zunbur there with a triple divorce.

وقد كنتُ لا أبغي لغيريَ كلكلاً

سواءُ من الناسِ الكثير مِلاثا

And I had no desire for anyone else's anklet bells

For I once sought no heavy breast to bear but my own,

Whether many people or just a few.

While the common crowds mingled in indistinguishable chaos.

كأنّ استَهُ كانت لأيريَ عن أبي

أبيهِ لهُ دون الأنام تراثا

As if her love was an inheritance from my father,

As though his backside were bequeathed to my member,

My father's inheritance for me apart from other people.

An inheritance from his grandfather passed to him, barring all mankind.

فلمّا رأيتُ الشيبَ قد مال ذلّةً

فمحّى كذا عنه سنىً وأثاثا

When I saw old age coming humble,

But when I saw that gray age had bent him toward abasement,

It thus wiped away his years and furnishings.

And thus wiped away from him both splendor and abundance,

دعوتُ حبالي من قواهِ فأصبحت

وثيقاتهُ منّي ومنه رثاثا

I called in my ropes from his strength and so they became,

I summoned back the ropes of my attachment from his grasp,

His bonds from me and him all worn out.

So my bonds became secure, while his ties to me grew threadbare.

فلمّا رأى صَرمي حباها مختّماً

لينقل أشعاراً رحلنَ خثاثا

When he saw my affliction had sealed off his love

When he saw my cutting off, he offered his favor to Mukhattam,

To transmit poems, he journeyed away swift.

To carry verses that traveled with heavy haste.

فلمّا أتى عنّي المختمُ أنّني

قعدتُ بهِ في الناسِ بالَ وراثا

When the seal came off from me that I

And when the news reached Mukhattam regarding me,

Sat among people without lineage or inheritance.

That I had cast him aside among the people like a worn-out rag,

لقد ذلّ يا ابنَ المائر القُصبِ امرؤٌ

تكونُ له في العالمين غياثا

Alas! O son of the wavering reeds, a man is humbled

Humiliated indeed—O son of the tripe-monger—is the man,

Whose helpers in the two worlds are few.

For whom you act as a savior among all the worlds.

مختّمٌ جهّز وعجّل فإنّما

أتاكَ بها مطليّة ليُغاثا

Sealed off, make ready and hurry away for only

O Mukhattam, make ready and make haste, for he has only

Distress has come to you coated in succour.

Come to you with a painted plight to seek your aid.