تُعْجِبُنِي رُؤَيةُ حُولِيِّكمْ

وَقَدْ تَمَطَّى جَاثِماً كَالجَمَلِ

I like to see your faces around me

Bent down like a kneeling camel

أَلقَى بِشَدْقٍ خَافِضاً رَأْسَهُ

وَالدِّيكُ مِنْ خَلْفِ عَلِيُّ الكَفَلِ

With a lowered cheek, his head hung down

And the rooster behind, Ali Al-Kafel

يَقُولُ كُلٌّ مِنْهُمَا دَاعِياً

طَابَ بِأَكْلِي مَهْجَةُ مِنْ أَكَلِ

Each saying invitingly

My belly was pleased with what it ate

وَرُبَّ حُوبٌ عَامَ فِي مَنْهَلٍ

مِنْ ذَوْبِ دُهْنٍ لَذِمْنَهُ النَّهلِ

And much darling in a watering hole

From melted fat, its drinking was sweet

ذُ مَزَّةٍ خُطَّت عَلَى حَرْفِهِ

وَعَنْ مَعَانِي لَفْظِهَا لاَ تَسَلِ

With a taste embellished on its edge

And from its words' meanings do not ask

يَرْنُو إِلَى السُّلْطَانِ فِي جَنْبِهِ

وَقَدْ زَهَتْ بِالحُسْنِ مِنْهُ الحُلَلِ

Yearning to the sultan by its side

Adorned with beauty, from it the robes

وَلِلْبَرَاغِيتِ بِأَمْعَائِنَا

قَرْصَةُ جُوعٍ مِثْلِ طَعْنِ الأَسَل

And for the gluttons in our intestines

A bite of hunger like the sting of thorns

وَالبَطْرَخُ المَضْرُوبُ فِي زَيْتِهِ

قَدْ لاَنَ وَابْيَضَّ كَشَمْعِ العَسَل

The fried eggplant in its oil

Has softened and whitened like beeswax

وَكَمْ وَكَمْ لوْناً مَضَى عَهْدُهُ

وَطَعْمُهُ فِي ذَوْقِنَا لَمْ يَزَلِ

And how much color has passed its days

Yet its taste in our mouths has not ceased

مَائِدَةٌ فَيْحَاءٌ أَصْنَافُهَا

عِشْرُونَ إِنْ عُدَّتْ وَلَيْستْ أَقَلِ

A table, dishes galore

Twenty if counted, no less

قُمْنَا حَوَالَيْهَا وَمَا خِلْتَنَا

إِلاَّ جَرَاداً فَي خَصِيبٍ نَزَلِ

We stood around it, and we were not lacking

Except locusts in a fertile valley that landed

مَا شِئْتَ حَدِّثْ عَنْ قِرَى حَاتَمٍ

وَلاَ تَصُنْ مَدَحَكَ فِيمَا بُذَلِ

Say what you wish of Hatim's towns

And do not be shy in what was spent