أَعُتَيبَ يا اِبنَ الفِعلَةِ اللَخناءِ

أَأَمِنتَ مِن بَذَخي وَمِن غُلَوائي

O you fault-finder, O son of a scurrilous mother,

Did you feel safe from my extravagance and my transgressions?

فَبِحُرمَةِ الغُرمولِ في اِستِكَ إِنَّهُ

قَسَمٌ لَهُ حَقٌّ عَلى البُغاءِ

By the sanctity of the pup in your lap, he

Has a right over adultery.

دَعواكَ في كَلبٍ أَعَمُّ فَضيحَةً

وَأَخَصُّ أَم دَعواكَ في الشُعَراءِ

Your invocation against a dog more disgraced

Than your invocation against the poets.

عَجَباً لِصَيّادِ الهِجاءِ بِعِرضِهِ

وَحِرُ اِمِّهِ أَبَداً عَلى الإِعراءِ

Strange is the satirist who exposes his honor

While his mother's shame remains veiled forever.

ما شِعرُهُ كُفأً لِشِعري فَليَمُت

غَيظاً وَلا الخُلُقِيُّ مِن أَكفائي

Let his poetry die if it equals mine,

And let him die of rage - he is not my equal!

أَنّى يَفوتُ مَخالِبي في بَلدَةٍ

أَرضي بِها مَبسوطَةٌ وَسَمائي

How can my claws miss in a country

Where my hands are extended and my skies vast?

وَكُهولُ كَهلانَ وَحَيّا حِميَرٍ

كَالسَيلِ قُدّامي مَعاً وَوَرائي

Like a torrent before and behind me are the senile and the feeble,

And the donkeys of ignoble men.

فَأُلاكَ أَعمامي الَّذينَ تَعَمَّموا

بِالمَكرُماتِ وَهَذِهِ آبائي

Destruction take my paternal uncles

Who were ennobled by favors - they were my forefathers!