1. أبا بكْرٌ العبدِيّ عاداكَ ذو الفَتْكِ

    فحِفظاً لأستارِ القريضِ من الهَتْكِ

    Abū Bakr al-ʿAbdī, a treacherous killer has become your enemy;

    so guard poetry's veils from being torn.

  2. أطافَ بك الذّئْبُ المُخالسُ فاحتَرِسْ

    سُروبَ النُهى من أخذِ مُستوجَبِ التّرْكِ

    The stealthily snatching wolf has circled you; guard

    reason's flocks from the grasp of one who ought to be shunned.

  3. وما أكتَمَ البرّاض عنكَ وفِعلَهُ

    وعندكَ أخبارُ اللطيمَةِ والمسْكِ

    And I conceal neither al-Barrāḍ nor his deed from you,

    while you know the tales of the perfume caravan and the musk.

  4. فإنْ تُغمدِ البيضَ الصّفائحَ دونَه

    فقد جرّد السودُ الصحائفَ للسّفْكِ

    If you keep the white sword-blades sheathed before him,

    he has already unsheathed black pages for bloodshed.

  5. وكم بيتِ شعرٍ كان عنقاءَ مُغربٍ

    فصارَ عصى الأعْمى لمعقولِه البعكي

    How many a verse was once a far-flying ʿAnqāʾ,

    then became a blind man's staff to his Baʿkī understanding.

  6. تُبكّي له الأقلامُ نقلاً مصحّفاً

    تموتُ معانيه عليه من الضحكِ

    For him the pens bring tears with garbled copying;

    its meanings die laughing at him.

  7. فكُنْ صاحبيّ الحُكم في سرِقاتِه

    فما الخبرُ المَحكيّ في ذاك بالمَحْكِ

    So be Ṣāḥib-like in judging his thefts;

    the tale retold about them is no touchstone.

  8. ولا عجباً من أول الصّكّ غُرّةٌ

    بها لمَعاتٌ أذكَرَتْ آخِرَ الصّكّ

    No wonder: at the document's beginning is a bright brow,

    whose flashes brought the document's ending to mind.

  9. فناهيكَ من سَهْلِ الطبيعةِ والقَفا

    على حالتَيْهِ جامِدِ الطّبْعِ والفَكّ

    Enough for you: one pliant in nature and nape,

    in both his states, stiff in talent and jaw.

  10. ثَنى ذِكْرَه كالخالديَّين خالداً

    قريضٌ سَرى كالسِّرِّ في ظُلمةِ الشّكّ

    His renown was doubled and made immortal, like the two Khālidīs,

    by verse that traveled like a secret through the darkness of doubt.

  11. فلا تغتَرِرْ منه بدُرٍّ نظَمْتُهُ

    فما ليَدَيْهِ منه شيءٌ سوى السِّلْكِ

    Do not be fooled by pearls from him that I strung;

    for his hands have nothing of them but the thread.

  12. قوافٍ كأمثالِ الرّياحينِ لم تزَلْ

    تيسّرُ أسبابَ الخلاعةِ والنُسْكِ

    Rhymes like fragrant blossoms have never ceased

    to ease the ways of wantonness and devotion.

  13. لها صدرُ نهرٍ شقّ جيبَ أزاهرٍ

    وغرّة أفْقٍ قلّصَتْ طُرَرَ الحُبْكِ

    They have a river's breast that rent the blossoms' neckline,

    and a horizon's bright brow that drew back the fringes of the sky's weave.

  14. أوشّحُ منها عِطْفَ كلِّ متوّج

    بما رقّ من نَسجٍ وما راقَ من حَبْكِ

    With them I drape every crowned ruler's side,

    with delicate weaving and delightful interlacing.

  15. وكانت عليها بهجةٌ يوسُفيّةٌ

    تقطّعُ أكبادَ العِدا عِوَضَ المَتْكِ

    And they bore a Joseph-like splendor

    that sliced enemies' livers instead of citrons.

  16. فشنّ عليها غارةً أصبحَتْ لها

    مهنّدةُ الأقلامِ تُشحَذُ للبَتْكِ

    Then he launched a raid upon them, so that for them

    the Indian-forged pen-blades were sharpened for severing.

  17. وحرّفَ فيها ما ادّعاهُ فساقَني

    بجُرح على جُرْح لغاية ما يُنْكي

    He corrupted in them what he claimed as his, driving me

    with wound upon wound to the furthest reach of hurt.

  18. فوا أسَفي للبيضِ تَدْمى وجوهُها

    بأسيافِ ألفاظٍ مسوّدةٍ حُلْك

    Ah, my sorrow for the white ones, whose faces bleed

    by swords of words, blackened and pitch-dark.

  19. أقامَتْ قلوبُ الشِّعْرِ تخفُقُ دونَها

    وهذي قوافيه على ضحكِ تَبكي

    Poetry's hearts kept beating in their defense,

    and these rhymes of his weep amid laughter.

  20. قدَحْتُ لها بالفِكر نارَ قريحَتي

    وكنتُ كما قد كُنتُ أبدعُ في السّبْكِ

    With thought I kindled for them the fire of my poetic gift,

    and, as I had before, I excelled in casting.

  21. وكم رامَني والرّحْبُ بيني وبينَه

    فقلتُ له لا زِلتَ في المنزلِ الضّنْكِ

    How often he aimed at me, with broad space between us;

    so I told him: May you remain forever in the cramped abode.

  22. دعي لعُقاب الجوّ شأوَ مطارِها

    ولا تُستغَرّي يا نعامَةُ بالرّبْكِ

    Leave to the eagle of the air the far reach of her flight,

    and do not be lured, O ostrich, into entanglement.

  23. أقامَ بمصْرٍ ما أقامَ وأقبَلتْ

    إليكُم به أيدي الطّماعةِ في المِلْكِ

    He stayed in Egypt as long as he stayed; then came

    to you with him the hands of greed for ownership.

  24. تولّى وما أدري على الفلَكِ اسْتوى

    مسخّرةً تَجري به أمْ على الفُلْكِ

    He departed; I know not whether he rode upon the celestial sphere,

    pressed into service to carry him, or upon a ship.

  25. وعهدي به رطْبَ العِجانِ فهل نجا

    سليماً على ما في السّنام من الدّعْكِ

    And I remember him with a moist perineum; did he escape

    unharmed, despite the rubbing at his hump?

  26. فإنْ قال إنّ الشوقَ طارَ بقلبِه

    فكيفَ ولم ينْحَلّ من شرَكِ الشِّرْكِ

    So if he says longing sent his heart flying,

    how so, when he has not been freed from the snare of idolatry?

  27. وما عنده إلا ادّعاءٌ تبهرجَتْ

    سبائكُهُ من غيرِ نقدٍ ولا حكِّ

    And he has nothing but pretension; exposed as counterfeit

    are its ingots, without assay or rubbing.

  28. فسلْهُ عن الشِّعْرِ الذي هو علمُه

    كما قال لا تأخُذ عليّ بما أحكي

    So ask him about poetry, which is his field of knowledge,

    as he said—do not hold against me what I recount.

  29. تجدْ من بناتِ الشعرِ كلَّ عقيلةٍ

    سَباها فيا ويحَ الأعاريبِ في التُرْكِ

    You will find, among poetry's daughters, every noble lady

    he took captive—alas for the Bedouin among the Turks!

  30. أتاكُم بها بعدَ البَكارةِ ثيّباً

    فلا يأمَنوها في النّشورِ وفي الفرْكِ

    He brought her to you, once a virgin, now deflowered;

    so let them not feel safe from her rebellion and aversion.

  31. وألبَسَها شرَّ الملابسِ مُنشِداً

    بفكٍّ عن التحريفِ ليسَ بمنفكِّ

    And he clothed her in the worst garments, reciting

    with a jaw never free from distortion.

  32. يقول أولو الأفهام عند استماعه

    رمتْكَ يدُ البوّابِ تأفَكُ بالفَكّ

    Those with understanding say, on hearing him:

    May the gatekeeper's hand strike you—you lie with your jaw!

  33. وكنا نظنّ الكعْكَ حرفةَ ساقطٍ

    ولم نعتقِدَ أن الرّئاسةَ في الكعْكِ

    We had thought cake-making the trade of a lowly fellow,

    and did not believe leadership lay in cakes.

  34. فيا ملِكَ الآدابِ قارِعْهُ دونَها

    بصوتِكَ إن شئتَ الدّوامَ على المُلْكِ

    So, king of letters, confront him in their defense,

    with your voice, if you wish to retain your kingship.

  35. ولا تعتقِدْ أنّ التجارة عندَهُ

    سوى ذاكَ لا في بقّمٍ راح أو لُكِّ

    And do not suppose his commerce is

    anything but that—not sappanwood, wine, or lac.