ماذا يخبِّرُ ضيفُ بيتكَ أهلهُ

إن سيلَ كيفَ معادهُ ومعاجه

What does your guest tell his family

Of how the torrent's flow and surge were?

أيقولُ: جاوزتُ الفراتَ ولم أنل

ريَّاً لديهِ وقد طغت أمواجهُ

Does he say: I crossed the Euphrates but found

No water with it, though its waves were raging,

وَرِقِيتُ في دَرَجِ الْعلاَ فَتَضَايَقَتْ

عمَّا أريدُ شعابهُ وفجاجه

And I climbed up the stairs of loftiness, but

Its cliffs and crevices were too narrow for what I wanted,

ولتخبرنَّ خصاصتي بتملُّقي

والماء يخبرُ عن قذاهُ زجاجةُ

Yet let my qualities inform you of my flattery,

And the water tells of its container's glass.

عنْدِي يَوَاقِيتُ الْقَرِيضِ وَدُرُّهُ

وَعَلَيّ إكْلِيلُ الْكَلاَم وَتَاجُهُ

With me are the gems of poetry and its pearls,

And on me is the crown of speech and its crown.

تربي على روضِ الرُّبا أزهارهُ

وَيَرُفُّ في نَادِي النَّدى دِيبَاجُهُ

Flowers nurtured in the meadow of calm grow on me,

And its brocade flutters in the club of dew.

وَالشَّاعِرُ المِنْطِيقُ أسْوَدُ سالخٌ

وَالشعْرُ مِنْهُ لُعَابُهُ وَمُجَاجُهُ

The excellent poet is a flayed black man,

And from him comes its spittle and mucus.

وَعَدَاوَةُ الشّعَرَاءِ دَاءٌ مُعْضِلٌ

وَلَقَدْ يَهُونُ عَلَى الْكَرِيمِ عِلاَجُهُ

The enmity of poets is an intransigent disease,

Yet overcoming it is easy for the generous man.