أكافورُ قُبِّحْتَ من خادِمٍ

ولاقَتْكَ مُسْرعةً جائحهْ

A eunuch frowned upon by a servant

And assaulted by a raging tempest

فَلَمْ أَرَ مِثْلَكَ ذا مَنْظَرٍ

شبيهٍ بِأَخْلاَقِهِ الفَاضِحَهْ

I have not seen anyone with an appearance

Like his scandalous morals

حَكَيْتَ سَمِيَّكَ في بَرْدِهِ

وأخطأَكَ اللّوْنُ والرائِحَهْ

You claimed to be of high breed in the cold

Yet your complexion and odor betrayed you

وَضَيَّعْتُ بِالجَهْلِ والأَفْنِ فِيْكَ

ثَمَانِنْنَ ثَاوِيَةً طَائِحَهْ

And in ignorance and oblivion I wasted on you

Eighty withering, stray years

كأنْ لم يَكُنْ لي من ناصحٍ

يُزَهِّدُ فِيْكَ ولا نَاصِحَهْ

As if I had no advisor

To make me abstain from you, no advisor

غُلاَمٌ تَكَامَلَ فِيْهِ القَبِيْحُ

فَما فِيْهِ من خَلَّةْ صالِحَهْ

A youth in whom every vice was made perfect

So not a single good quality was left in him

بَطئُ الجَوَابِ فَكَمْ صَائِحٍ

بِهِ لم يُجِبْهُ وَكَمْ صَائِحَهْ

Slow to respond, so how many screeching calls

Did he not answer, how many screeches!

كثيرُ البُكَاءِ بلا عِلّةٍ

فَدَمْعَتُهُ أبداً سَافِحَهْ

Crying often without reason

His tears kept always flowing

إذَا قُلْتُ قد قَوَّمَتْهُ العَصَا

أَجَدَّ أُمُوراً لنا فَادِحَهْ

If I said a stick had set him right

He would stir up grievous matters for us

مَلِئٌ وَيَسْعَى على مِعْدَةٍ

هَضُومٍ وَوَجْعَاؤُهُ سالِحَهْ

Filled up and scrambling on a

Digesting, painful stomach

وكيف يُؤَمَّلُ مَنْ يَوْمُهُ

أَذَمُّ وَأَخْزَى من البَارِحَهْ

And how can one have hope in someone

Whose day is more gloomy and disgraceful than yesterday