وَقانِصٍ مُحتَقَرٍ ذَميمِ
كَدرِيِّ لَونٍ أَغبَرٍ قَتيمِ
With a repulsive, despicable physique
And a hunter, despised and loathsome,
Of a muddy, dusty, wretched hue
Dingy in hue, dust-colored and gloomy,
مُشتَبِكِ الأَعجازِ بِالحَيزومِ
وَمُخرِجِ اللَحظَةِ بِالخَيشومِ
With a spine entangled with its neck
His hindquarters entangled with his chest,
And breath exhaled through its snout
Who projects his glance from his snout,
أَضيَقُ أَرضاً مِن مَقامِ الميمِ
أَو نُقطَةٍ بَينَ جَناحِ الجيمِ
Narrower than the space for a mim letter
Narrower in territory than the loop of the letter 'Mim',
Or a dot between the wings of a jim
Or a dot nestled within the wing of the letter 'Jim',
لَيسَ بِقِعديدٍ وَلا قَيّومِ
وَلا عَنِ الحيلَةِ بِالسَؤومِ
Neither muscular nor straight
He is neither a sitter nor a stander,
Nor cunning in mischief
Nor does he ever grow weary of his wiles,
لا يَخلِطُ الهَيمَةَ بِالتَنويمِ
مُنخَفِضٌ في كَنَفِ التَشويمِ
Does not mix anxiety with slumber
He does not confuse his wandering with slumber,
Depressed under the shade of gloom
Crouching low in the shelter of ill-omened concealment,
بَينَ نِتاجَي حَبَشٍ وَرومِ
في ظُلَلِ الذَروَةِ وَالعُلجومِ
Between the offspring of Abyssinia and Rome
Of a lineage between the Abyssinian and the Roman,
In the shadows of peaks and tangled bushes
Amidst the shadows of the crest and deep darkness,
كَأَنَّما دَبَّتهُ في السيمِ
في عَقلِ ناشٍ دَبَّةُ الخُرطومِ
As if its mind crept through the filth
As though his creeping upon the flesh,
Or a slumber rising in drowsiness
In the mind of a youth, were the creeping of old wine,
أَو نَعسَةٌ تَنهَضُ في نَؤومِ
أَشجَعُ مِن ذي لُبَدٍ هَضيمِ
Braver than one with a digestive stomach
Or a slumber rising within a heavy sleeper,
Until it climbed atop the heights of glory
Braver than the maned lion, the ravager,
حَتّى اِعتَلى عالِيَةَ التَميمِ
بُؤساً لَهُ مِن هالِكٍ مَعدومِ
Wretched is he, a lost and doomed one
Until he ascended the high place of the amulet,
Misery be upon him for a destroyer that is virtually naught!
