تعرَّضَ لي دونه مَعْشرٌ

تعرَّضَ لي دونه مَعْشرٌ

كرامٌ وما ذاك أنْ أكرموهُ

كرامٌ وما ذاك أنْ أكرموهُ

A company interposed between me and him:

A company attacked me, though they were generous

noble men—not because they honored him,

And it was not as though I had honored them.

ولكنّهُمْ أعظموا مَنطقي

ولكنّهُمْ أعظموا مَنطقي

وكان جديراً بأنْ يُعْظِمُوه

وكان جديراً بأنْ يُعْظِمُوه

but because they esteemed my speech,

But they magnified my eloquence

and it deserved their esteem.

And it was fitting that they esteem it.

فصانوا هجائيَ عنْ عرضه

فصانوا هجائيَ عنْ عرضه

بأعراضه شدّ ما استْلأموه

بأعراضه شدّ ما استْلأموه

So they kept my satire away from his honor,

So they protected my satire from touching his honor

with his honors—how utterly they deemed him base!

With their own honor, however much it provoked him.

لئن رَحِموا الشعرَ من لؤمه

لئن رَحِموا الشعرَ من لؤمه

لحقَّ وحقوا بأنْ يرْحموه

لحقَّ وحقوا بأنْ يرْحموه

If they spared poetry his baseness,

If they had mercy on poetry for its meanness,

it truly deserved to be spared, and they were right to spare it.

It was right and proper that they show it mercy.