أَضالِعٌ تَنطَوي عَلى كَربِ
وَمُقلَةٌ مُستَهِلَّةُ الغَربِ
Ribs aching with sorrow,
And an owl lamenting the sunset,
شَوقاً إِلى ساكِني دِمَشقَ فَلا
عَدَت رُباها مَواطِرُ السُحبِ
Yearning for Damascenes - yet rain clouds
No longer grace their dwellings.
مَنازِلٌ ما دَعا تَذَكُّرُها
إِلّا وَلَبّى عَلى النَوى لُبّي
Homes - if remembering conjures them
My soul leaps up eager and willing!
مَتى أَرى سَيِّدي المُوَفَّقَ يَختا
لُ ضُحىً في عِراصِها الرُحبِ
When will I see my lord al-Muwaffaq strolling
At dawn through those spacious estates?
يَمشي الهُوَينى وَخَلفَهُ عُمَرٌ
يَختالُ مِثلَ المَهاةِ في السِربِ
With al-Huwaini walking behind, and ʿUmar
Strutting like a stud in a herd.
وَسيدي كُلَّما تَأَمَّلَهُ
تاهَ وَأَبدى غَرائِبَ العُجبِ
And whenever my lord looked upon him
He was stunned, and marveled much.
تَجَعمُسٌ قَلَّ مَن يُناظِرُهُ
في الناسِ إِلّا تَعَنفُقُ الرَحبي
Slim pickings to find his equal
Among the people, save al-Ruhbi providing succor.
المُدَّعي أَنَّهُ بِحِكمَتِهِ
عَلَّمَ بقراطَ صَنعَةَ الطِبِّ
The pretender claiming his wisdom
Taught Hippocrates the art of healing -
وَهوَ لَعَمري أَخَسُّ مَن وَطيءَ التُر
بَ وَأَولى بِاللعنِ وَالسَبِّ
By my life, he is far baser than any ground beetle,
More deserving of curses and insults!
وَلَو رَأَيتَ المِطواعَ يَنظُرُ في الـ
ـتَشريحِ كَيفَ الفَقارُ في الصُلبِ
If you were to see the surgeon examining
How the vertebrae fit in the spine,
وَكَيفَ مَجرى الأَنوارِ في عَصَبِ الـ
ـعَينِ إِذا ما اِنحَدَرنَ في الثُقبِ
And the passage of rays in the optic nerve
When they flow into the socket,
وَإِنَّ في لُكنَةِ اِبنِ عَونٍ لَما
يَشغَلُهُ عَن فَصاحَةِ العُربِ
You would find in the lisping of Ibn ʿAwn enough
To distract him from the eloquence of the Arabs.
وَلِاِبنِ نَجلِ الدَجاجِ طولُ يَدٍ
تَجمَعُ بَينَ الفُراتِ وَالضَبِّ
And for Ibn Najl al-Dajaj, his hand spans
The distance from Euphrates to steppe.
يَقودُ رَضوى إِلى عَسيب وَلا
يُعجِزُهُ ما اِرتَقى مِنَ الهَضبِ
He leads his steed Raḍwā to ʿAsīb without
Being daunted by ascending the ridge.
ثُمَّ أَبو الفَضلِ مَع حَماقَتِهِ
يَقطَعُ عُمرَ النَهارِ بِالضَربِ
Yet Abu l-Faḍl, despite his foolishness,
Spends his days striking with a stick.
وَالمغزلُ الحَنبَلِيُّ مُجتَهِداً
يفتلُ في لِستِ الثقَّالَةِ الكتبي
While the copulist Ḥanbali strains away
Splitting fat volumes of books.
هذا وَكَم غادَرَ المُؤَيَّدُ ذا الـ
ـخَليطَ بِالدِبسِ لاثمَ التُربِ
This while how many the Muʾayyad left
Stained in sticky syrup, shrouded in dust!
وَلَو أَشا قُلتُ في المُخَلَّعِ ما
فيهِ وَما عفتُ ذاكَ مِن رُعبِ
Had I wished to tell of the Crazed One what is in him
And not refrained out of fear,
لَكِن أَيادٍ لِعِرسِهِ سَلَفَت
عِندي وَحَسبي بِذِكرِها حَسبي
But his partisans preceded me
In coming to me, which sufficed me.
كَم عاثَ بِاللَيلِ في الفِراشِ عَلى
كرومِ بُستانِ شُفرِها
How he caroused by night in the bedclothes
Amidst the vineyards, plundering the buds!
عَلى اِستِها خِرقَةٌ مُعلَّقَةٌ
كَطَيلَسانِ اِبنِ مُكتَعِ الحَربي
On his shoulder a patchwork robe is slung
Like the body armor of Ibn Muktaʿ al-Ḥarbī.
وَأَسمَرٍ كَالهِلالِ رُكّبَ في
غُصنِ أَراكٍ مُهَفهَفٍ رَطبِ
While a swarthy man like the crescent moon perched
Upon the bough of a waving, moist tree.
صَبا إِلَيهِ عَبدُ اللَطيفِ وَلا
غَروَ لِذاكَ القَوامِ أَن يُصبي
ʿAbd al-Laṭīf poured himself out to him - but for that figure
It was only natural he should pour!
وَفي حَديثِ اِبنِ راشِدٍ زَبَدٌ
عَلى لِحى سامِعيهِ كَالشَبِّ
The prattle of Ibn Rāshid is froth
On the beards of his listeners, like dripping.
وَاِبنُ هِلالٍ إِذا تَنَحنَحَ لِلـ
ـغِناءِ يَعوي مُشابِهَ الكَلبِ
And Ibn Hilāl - when he coughs before singing
He howls, sounding like a yelping cur.
حَلقٌ وَضَربٌ يَستَوجِبانِ لَهُ
مُعَجَّلَ الحَلقِ مِنهُ وَالضَربِ
An earful deserving a lashing and blows
To hasten their coming, from him and on him!
وَلِلنَفيسِ الصوفيِّ عَنفَقَةٌ
مَحلوقَةٌ لِلمِحالِ وَالكِذبِ
The pretentious Sufi has a beard
Lopped for the absurd and lies.
كَلِحيَةِ المُرِّ كُلَّما حُلِقَت
نَمَت نُمُوَّ الزُروعِ وَالعُشبِ
Like the snake’s whiskers - each time shaved
It grows back, sprouting like plants and grass.
مَعايِبٌ حجبُهُنَّ يَهتِكُها
هتكَ بَناتِ الرَقِّيِّ في الحُجبِ
Flaws better veiled - he strips them bare
As he strips bare palace girls behind the veil!
ما إِن رَأَينا مِن قَبلِهِ مَلِكاً
يَسيرُ في مَوكِبٍ مِنَ القحبِ
Never before did we see a king parade
In a convoy of whores,
يَثِبنَ نَحوَ الزُناةِ مِن شَبَقٍ
كَاِبنِ زُهَير البَرغوثِ في الوَثبِ
Leaping with lust at adulterers
Like fleas toward a shaggy dog!
وَلَو تَرَدّى النَزيهُ مِن حَبلٍ
قَباً لَأَضحى مُمَزَّقَ القَبِّ
Had the virtuous one fallen from a rope,
He would have shredded garb and frame.
وَالعِزُّ عَبدُ الرَحيمِ سَيِّدُنا
مُطَيلَسٌ لِلقَضاءِ بِالشربِ
The honorable ʿAbd al-Raḥīm, our master,
Is dipso at deciding court affairs.
يَظُنُّ رائيهِ أَنَّهُ جُرَذٌ
مُطَلّعٌ رَأسَهُ مِنَ الثَقبِ
Those seeing him suppose him
A rat poking its head out of its hole!
وَخُطبَةُ الدَولَعِيِّ كَم جَلَبَت
لِلنّاسِ مِن فادِحٍ وَمِن خَطبِ
The sermon of al-Dawlaʿī - how much scandal it brought
Of monstrosities and shocking affairs!
يَؤُمُّهُم إِذ يَؤُمُّهُم جُنُباً
فَلَيتَهُ أَمَّهُم عَلى جَنبِ
He led them in prayer while in a state of impurity,
Would that he had led them sideways in their rows!
تَخَشُّعٌ ما وَراءَهُ نُسُكٌ
يَصدُرُ عَن نِيَّةٍ وَلا قَلبِ
A sanctimonious display, but in truth
Neither intention nor devotion in his heart.
وَلِلمُسَمّى بِأُمِّهِ لَقَبٌ
مِثلُ أَبيهِ المَنعوتِ مِن كَذِبِ
As for the one named after his mother, a nickname
Like his father’s, conferred out of lies.
سوءٌ كَسوءِ الفاعوسِ ذي القرنِ وَالـ
ـمَعروفِ بِاِبنِ البَرادِعي المُربي
Evil like the horned viper, known
As Ibn Barādiʿ the Fosterer!
كَأَنَّهُ ضامِنٌ وَمَنزِلهُ الحا
نَةُ لَو كانَ ظاهِرَ الشَربِ
Looking as though he guaranteed - and his house too -
Intoxication, if it came into the open!
وَعَن أَبي الدُرِّ إِن سَأَلتَ فَسَل
لِاِبنِ سَليمٍ يُنبِئُكَ بِالخَطبِ
And if you ask about Abu l-Durr, then ask
Ibn Salīm, who will inform you of this outrage,
لَهُ عَلى البابِ خادِمٌ وَوَرا الـ
ـبابِ قِحابٌ تَلقاهُ بِالرُحبِ
With a servant at his gate and, behind the gate,
Younglings greeting him in that expanse.
تَسحَقُ هَذي لِهَذِهِ فَتَرى
شَهيقَ هَذي مِن شَهوَةِ
One mounts the other, so you see
This one swoon in the other’s passion,
وَعِلَّةٌ لِلبِغا مُحَلّلَةٌ
مَعاقِدَ الأُزرِ مِن وَرا النُقبِ
A condition allowed for the slave girls,
Their girdles loosed from behind the curtains,
حَمَينَ بِالنُقبِ عَلوَهُنَّ وَما
حَمَينَ أَسفالَهُنَّ مِن نَقبِ
They took pains to conceal their faces, but made no effort
To hide what lay below their navels!
وَالعَسقَلانِيُّ في عَمامَتِهِ
دَلائِلٌ عَن سَخافَةٍ تُنبي
About the ʿAsqalānī in his turban
Are signs indicating great foolishness.
كَأَنَّها فَوقَ رَأسِ قِمَّتِهِ
دَوّارَةَ الحَلِّ رخوَةَ الهُدبِ
As if atop his rising crown
A spinning stack of rings, unsteady and shaking!
يُخادِعُ اللَهَ في الزَكاةِ بِأَلـ
ـفاظِ مِحالٍ لَم تَأتِ في الكُتبِ
He deceived God in the alms tax with words -
Absurdities found in no books.
ذو طَرفَينِ إِذا نَسَبتَهُما
يَحارُ في ذاكَ كُلُّ ذي لُبِّ
Two-faced: if you trace his lineage
All of sound mind will be perplexed.
فَالأُختُ وَالأُمُّ مِن بَني شَبقٍ
وَالأَبُ وَالإِبنُ مِن بَني كَلبِ
The sister, the mother - from a lustful line,
The father, the son - from a line of dogs!
وَحينَ أَبصَرتُ دَولَةَ الأَحدَبِ الفا
ضِلِ أَربَت عَلى عُلا الشُهبِ
When I saw the state of the wall-eyed Excellent One
My eye sockets climbed up my forehead.
فَقُلتُ لِلمُفلِسينَ وَيحَكُمُ
تَحادَبوا فَهيَ دَولَةُ الحُدبِ
I said to the bankrupt ones: For shame!
