أَتِرْبَ الخَنَى ما لِابْنِ أُمِّكَ مُولَعاً

بِتِرْبِ الندى وَابْنِ العُلا وَأَخي الحَسَبْ

Do you seek to slander the son of your mother's friend

With your fondness for the dust of dew and the tall man's son and my brother of noble lineage?

أَيَمْشِي بِعِرْضِي في الأَراذِلِ خامِلٌ

خَفِيُّ مَساري العِرْقِ مُؤْتَشَبُ النَّسَبْ

Does he walk with my honor among the worthless, downcast,

His lineage concealed, roots entangled, ancestry falsified?

وَلي دَوْحَةٌ فَوْقَ السَّماواتِ فَرْعُها

وَتَحْتَ قَرارِ الأَرْضِ مِنْ عِرْقِها شُعَبْ

I have a palm tree reaching to the heavens above, its branches spread wide,

And beneath the earth's surface, its roots run deep.

فَخالِي رَفيعُ السَّمْكِ في العُجْمِ بَيْتُهُ

وَعَمِّي لَهُ جُرْثومَةُ المَجْدِ في العَرَبْ

So my uncle's house is lofty among foreigners,

And my father's is the glory of nobility among Arabs.

وَلَيْسَ يُجارِي مُقْرِفٌ ذا صَراحَةٍ

مِنَ الخَيْلِ حَتّى تَسْتَوي الرَّأْسُ وَالذَّنَبْ

No bare-faced slanderer can rival me,

Not until the head and tail of a horse are made equal.

لَعَمْرُكَ إِنّي حينَ أَعْتَدُّ في الوَرى

لَكَالمنْدَلِيِّ الرَّطْبِ يُعْتَدُّ في الحَطَبْ

By your life! When I am held in high esteem among people

I am like wet tinder held in high esteem for burning firewood.