قُلْ للأَشونيّ ولا تَحْتَشِمْ

قوْلَ امْرِئٍ بالحَقِّ مُحْتَجِ

Say to Ashsha'uniy and do not be ashamed,

The saying of a man truthful in his plea,

يا مَنْ بَراهُ اللهف لمّا بَرا

منْ بَرَدٍ صِرْفٍ ومن ثَلْجِ

O you whom separation has exposed when it exposed

Some hail, sleet, and snow,

وقِشْرِ رُمّانٍ وشَبٍّ ومنْ

سُكٍّ وعَفْصٍ قابِضٍ فَجِّ

And pomegranate peel, and youthful folly, and

A clenched juiceless unripe date,

عَقْدُكَ كافورٌ بلا مِرْيَةٍ

وعَقْلُكَ الهَلْهَلُ منْ بَنْجِ

Your necklace is camphor without a doubt

And your mind the ringing of the bells,

ولَفْظُكَ البارِدُ يا سيّدي

منْ زَمْهَريرٍ هَبَّ في فَجِّ

And your cool utterance, my master,

Is from the babbling that blows in the crevices,

لُفَّ على المَعْنى الضّعيفِ القُوَى

كخِرْوِ قِطٍّ لُفَّ في خَمْجِ

It folds over weak meanings to make them strong

Like the folding of the guinea fowl in the thickets,

عَجِبْتُ منْ زَوْجِكَ ما بالُها

لمْ تَسْتَغثْ منْكَ بقُولَنْجِ

I wondered what was up with your wife, why didn’t she

Appeal to you for help with a cooing,

ما بالُها لم ينْصَرِفْ خصْمُها

بفالَجٍ منْكَ بِلا فُلْجِ

Why didn’t her opponent turn away from her

Cured by you without incision,

ما بالُها لم يعْتَرِضْ خِدْرَها

خَدْرٌ على السُّكْنى معَ الثّلْجِ

Why didn’t her cheek heal from the slap

Of silence with snow on a cheek,

أظُنّها قد سحَقَتْ فُلْفاً

فذلِكَ السّحْقُ هوَ المُنْجي

I reckon she pounded beans,

For that pounding is what saved her,

سافَتْهُ في وَجٍّ وفي خردَلٍ

ومَنْ لِذاكَ الوَجْهِ بالوَجِّ

She cooked him with vinegar and mustard,

And who can stand up to that face with vinegar!

ما حالُ مَنْ جاوَرَ منْكَ الصَّبا

والقُرُّ مُضْنٍ شَرُّهُ مُشْجِي

What is the state of one neighboring you, morning

And stove are painful, how evil is its burning,

فلا فَمٌ يُعْمِلُ في لَفْظَةٍ

ولا يَدٌ تَدْنو الى فَرْجِ

So no mouth works to utter a word,

And no hand dares extend to a knee,

وإنْ تشوّفْتَ الى زَوْجَةٍ

ثانِيةٍ حَسْبُكَ منْ زَوْجِ

And if you desire another wife,

To have one is enough of a wife,

عَجوزِ يَنَّيْرٍ بِها تَجتَزي

تأتِيكَ للأرْياحِ في فَوْجِ

An old croaker that you can toy with,

Who comes to you in a horde,

تُضْحِكُ لِحْيَيْكَ لَها رِعْدَةٌ

ضِحْكَ الحَصا في مَطْرَحِ المَوْجِ

She laughs her gap-toothed laugh for you,

The laughter of gravel on a storm-battered beach,

فَسُقْ لَها خالَكَ منْ بَعْدِ ما

تَجْعَلُهُ للخَبْثِ في دُرْجِ

Then deny her your maternal uncle after

You make him into depravity in a jar,

واحْمِلْ لها البَيْنَ وبَرْدَ الكُلا

نَوْعَينِ في تَخْتٍ وفي خُرْجِ

And carry for her eggs and icy water,

Two kinds in one bag and one pot,

وبِتْ بِها في مَسْقَطٍ للنّدَى

في بُرْدَةٍ أو مَقْطَعٍ بَرْجي

And live with her in a place dripping dew

In the cold or in a tower overlooking the land,

وإنْ أرَدْتَ الغَسْلَ فاعْدُدْ لَهُ

خَلاًّ وبالقِثّاءِ فاسْتَنْجِ

And if you want to wash, prepare for it

Vinegar and clean yourself with a sun-dried brick,

وامْزُجْ بِمامِيثا وحَبِّ الفَنا

لَخْلَخَةً مُتْقَنةَ المَزْجِ

And mix wild thyme and seed of unrest

For a well-blended footbath,

وابْنِ بفَجِّ الرّيحِ عِلِّيّةً

تَقْصِدُها في حَذَرِ الهَرْجِ

And build with the wind’s crevice a wind-catcher

That it heads for in dread of the din,

واغْنَ بقُطْنِ الثّلْجِ عنْ مَتْجَرٍ

يُغْنيكَ عنْ جَمعٍ وعنْ حَلْجِ

And make do with cotton of snow instead of a fur coat

That spares you gathering or begging,

واغْزِلْهُ بالرّيحِ وهَيّئْ لهُ

مَرَمّةَ المَصْقولِ والكَنْجِ

And spin it with the wind and ready for it

The smooth pulley and winch,

والصِّنَّ والصِّنَّبْرَ فاجْعَلْهُما

عِيداً كَعيدِ العَجِّ والثَّجِّ

And Chinese porcelain, make them

A holiday like the holiday of the Holy Pilgrimage,

واهْجُرْ مَخيطَ الثّوبِ واحْلِقْ بِه

وطُفْ طَوافَ النّاسِ في الحجِّ

And avoid the clothes’ tailor and shave yourself with it,

And circumambulate the circumambulation of people at the Hajj,

ما أنتَ إلا بارِدٌ شارِدٌ

منْ فَلَكِ البُرّادِ في أوْجِ

You’re nothing but cold and absent,

Lost from the orbit of the Refrigerator in difficulty,

جفاؤُكَ الفَظُّ الذي نالَني

صيّرَني للفِكْرِ في هَرْجِ

Your rude coldness which has come over me

Has made me fall into confused thinking,

عُمْرِيَ ما إنْ نالَني مِثْلُهُ

منْ ضَيْمِ سَبْتيٍّ ولا طَنْجي

Never in my life has anything like it

Afflicted me, not even a Saturday or a withdrawal!

فاسْتَغْفِرِ اللهَ ولا تَهْفُ في

كَتْبٍ مَدَى الدّهْرِ ولا دَرْجِ

So ask God for forgiveness and do not rush about

In books forever and seats of honor,

ولا تُطِعْ بَرْدَكَ في مِثلِها

إلا لعَبْدٍ لكَ أو عِلْجِ

And do not obey your coldness in the likes of this

Except towards a slave of yours or a professional,

لازِلْتَ والشّارِبُ منْ خَسَّةٍ

والرّيقُ منْ حامِضِ نارَنْجِ

You have always been one who drinks what is not fresh,

And saliva from sour orange juice,

يَنَّيْرُ والجَدْيُ إذا عُدِّلا

حَظُّكَ منْ شَهْرٍ ومنْ بُرْجِ

May January and the new moon, when upright,

Be your fortune, and mansion, and zodiac sign,

وجِئتَ منْ صُلْبِكَ في مَعْشَرٍ

منْ وَلَدٍ عُورٍ ومنْ عُرْجِ

And you came from your ancestry among a tribe

Of the bleary-eyed and the lame,

بيضٍ وسُودٍ فوقَ نِطْعِ الأذى

كأنّهُمْ قِطْعاتُ شِطْرَنجِ

White and black over the harm they have inflicted

As if they were chess pieces,

تَخالُهُمْ ياجوجَ دارَتْ بذِي ال

قَرْنَيْنِ يَدْعونَ الى خَرْجِ

Their meanness, O Yajuj, went round

With Dhu ‘l-Qarnayn calling for mayhem,

وزيّنَتْ عُنْقَكَ نُغْنوغَةٌ

كأنّها عُقْدةُ أتْرُنْجِ

And a necklace adorns your neck appearing to be

A knot of bitter orange,

ما هَبّ ريحُ الصّرِّ في بُقْعَةٍ

وارْتَفَعَ الثّلْجُ على مَرْجِ

No wind blew in a place

And the snow piled up on a pasture,