غَرَّ كُلَيباً إِذِ اِصفَرَّت مَعالِقُها

بِضَيغَمِيٍّ كَريهِ الوَجهِ وَالأَثَرِ

The hound howled when her teats turned yellow,

With a loathsome, ill-omened dye.

شُربُ الرَثيئذَةِ حَتّى باتَ مُنكَرِساً

عَلى عَطِيَّةَ بَينَ الشاءِ وَالحَجَرِ

She drank steadily till she lay stretched out,

On the bare ground between the thorns and stones.

وَردُ السَراةِ تَرى سوداً مَلاغِمُهُ

مُجاهِرُ القِرنِ لا يَكتَنُّ بِالخَمَرِ

The milch camels you see, their black calves clinging to them,

Bellowing with horns that never touch wine.

كَأَنَّ عَينَيهِ وَالظَلماءُ مُسدِفَةٌ

عَلى فَريسَتِهِ نارانِ في حَجَرِ

Their eyes and the darkness seem competing

As fires in the blackness of night.

كَأَنَّ عَطّارَةً باتَت تَعُلُّ لَهُ

بِالزَعفَرانِ ذِراعَي مُخدِرٍ هَصِرِ

As though a perfume seller had made them drunk

With arms' length of soporific yellow bloom.

تُشلي كِلابَكَ وَالأَذنابُ شائِلَةٌ

إِلى قُرومِ عِظامِ الهامِ وَالقَصَرِ

Unleash your hounds and let the greyhounds course

To the ruins, bones, and palaces.

ما تَأمُرونَ عِبادَ اللَهِ أَسأَلُكُم

بِشاعِرٍ حَولَهُ دُرجانِ مُختَمِرِ

What is your command, O servants of God, I ask you,

About a poet ringed with fermenting casks?

لَئِن طَلَبتُم بِهِ شَأوي لَقَد عَلِمَت

أَنّي عَلى العَقبِ خَرّاجٌ مِنَ القَتَرِ

If you seek to disparage him, know well

That I am a buttress against insult and baseness.

وَلا يُحامي عَلى الأَحسابِ مُنفَلِقٌ

مُقَنَّعٌ حينَ يُلقى فاتِرُ النَظَرِ

No coward who blinks when looked at straight

Can be a match for me in wordy warfare.