فتحت بنظمك المنثور بابا

ولكن ما حسبت له حسابا

You have opened prose with your poetry

Yet you did not account for it

بعثت به ومصدره وداد

فشاهدنا به العجب العجابا

You sent it with love as its source

So we saw in it wondrous wonders

رأينا الهجو مخلوطا بعتب

ولم تدر الهجاء ولا العتابا

We saw satire mixed with reproach

You did not know satire or reproach

فخاطبناك بالحسنى وقلنا

لعله مخطىء وعساه تابا

So we addressed you kindly and said

Perhaps it is a mistake; hopefully he will repent

إذا بك والخبيثة منك نفس

تسوقك بالغرور لأن تصابا

When you - with your wicked soul

Lead you arrogantly to be struck

ولو هي سولت لأخيك قبلا

لخاف من الملائكة الشهابا

Had it tempted your brother before

He would have feared the flaming angels

نعاجا قد بعثت بها عجافا

يصد هزالها عنها الذئابا

You sent skinny sheep

Whose leanness wards off the wolves

يكاد الضعف يسترها ولولا

تسربها لخلناها الذبابا

Weakness almost hides them; had it not

Seeped through, we'd have deemed them flies

ولو طارت عددناها بغاثا

ولو لمعت حسبناها سرابا

Had they flown, we'd have counted them insects

Had they glistened, we'd have deemed them mirage

ولو نطقوا بها كانت نباحا

نحاشي عن إجابتها الكلابا

Had they bleated, it'd have been yelping

That even dogs evade responding to

ولو وزنت لوازنها هباء

ولو سكبت لما سيغت شرابا

Had they been weighed, they'd be like vapor

Had they been poured, they wouldn't quench thirst

ولو طرحت بمزبلة لصدت

عن الجيف المدنسة الغرابا

Had they been tossed in garbage, they'd repel

The soiled crows from the rotten corpse

تحاول أن تشاتمني فهلا

أحلت على قبائحك السبابا

You try to insult me, so why

Didn't you unload your ugliness with curses?

أما في الترهات لديك كفء

تجرده فمثلك لن يهابا

You have a match in foolishness

The like of you will not be feared

وفي تلك الهنات لك اشتغال

فعمرك قد تجاوزت النصابا

You have work in those flirts

For you have surpassed the lawful age

وفي تلك المخازي كم مغاز

تناقشها مساويك الحسابا

In those vulgarities, how many scandals

You discuss with your peers

تقول معرضا يا ناق سيري

وأنت إذا نطقت فلا جوابا

You say, turning away: "O camel walk on"

While you, when speaking, have no answer

تنحنح للقرى يا تغلبي

وقل يا ليتني كنت ترابا

Neigh to the villages, O Ghassanid!

And say: "Would that I were dust"!

قواف حيزبون كأم عمرو

ذهبت بها ولا رجعى ذهابا

Qawaf of Hizbon like Um 'Amr

You took them and no return of that taking

تعلم يا شويعر كيف تهجو

ودعك من الخنا فالراس شابا

Know, O Shu'ayr, how to satirize

And leave off vermin, for the head is youthful

وخذها من عليم ذي اقتدار

وإن كانت على الجاني عقابا

And take it from a learned, powerful one

Even if it is punishment upon the offender

فكم قومت معوج القوافي

وكم رممت أبياتا خرابا

How many disjointed meters have you fixed

And how many crumbled verses rebuilt?

بحوره قبل معرفتي سواءلد

يك تخوضها بحرا عبابا

Its meters were all the same to you before my knowledge

For you to dive in a deep, stormy sea

فلا تدري خفيفا من ثقيل

ولا خيبا دريت ولا اقتضابا

You don't know the difference between light and heavy

Or reward and requital

وما كنت المؤرخ بيت شعر

ولا استنشقت لولاي الحسابا

You weren't a historian of poetry

Or smelled the shifts of encampment

حذار فلا تمل عنها خبيرا

حذار إذا نفضت لك الجرابا

Beware repeating it to an expert

Beware when the wallet empties out to you

فلي منها الشواهد بيد أني

سدلت على نقائصك النقابا

Yet I have from it examples, however

I've drawn a veil over your deficiencies

يعز عليه استاذ نظيري

يرى التلميذ منحطا معابا

My peer mentor feels sorry

Seeing the pupil disgraced and blameworthy

قدمت إلى مناظلتي جريا

وما راعيت للشيخ الجنايا

I came challenging you hastily

And did not heed the elder's offenses

فشاهدت الصواعق مزجيات

مواطرها فلاقيت العذابا

So I saw the thunderbolts mixed

With its pouring rain, and met torment

فلو للرشد ثبت لقلت عفوا

على مثلي وهل إبليس ثايا

Had I stood firmly for righteousness, I'd have said "Forgive

One like me; did Iblis ever repent?"

فمد لمديتي عنق التجري

فكم جزيت بالشعر الرقابا

So for as long as I stretched my neck to attack

How many were the necks my poetry severed

وصح في الناس يال سداد ثغري

وقل متمثلا تنح الصوابا

It was authenticated among people: "My mouth's trouble

Has passed", so say, quoting: "Rightness has inclined"

إذا غضبت علي بنو تميم

رأيت الناس كلهمو غضابا

Whenever Tamim's clan grew angry with me

I saw all people growing angry