1. ساءَلتُ يوماً خالداً

    ذا المجد والبيت الوسيطِ

    One day I questioned Khalid,

    possessed of glory and a noble house:

  2. لمْ ذلَّ عِزُكَ للقُمُدْ

    دِ فقال قول المستشيطِ

    “Why was your honor humbled before the stout phallus?”

    He answered like a man enraged:

  3. ميِّز بعقلك أيَّنا ال

    مخنوق في بيت الضَّريطِ

    “Use your reason: which of us is the one

    strangled in the farter’s house,

  4. حتى تراه في الخُنا

    قِ يغطُّ أنواع الغطيط

    until you see him in a

    stranglehold, snoring every kind of snore?

  5. بل أينا مني ومن

    ه يُغتُّ في السَّلح العبيط

    Rather, which of us—myself or

    him—is plunged into fresh shit?”

  6. قلتُ القُمُدُّ فقال لي

    اسكُتْ إذن يا ابن النَّبيط

    I said, “The phallus.” He said to me:

    “Then be silent, son of the Nabataeans!

  7. لِم لُمتني متغطْرساً

    لا درّ درُّك من خليط

    Why did you blame me so arrogantly?

    May your milk run dry, companion!”

  8. صدق المفوَّهُ خالدٌ

    ذو المِقول العضب البسيط

    Eloquent Khalid spoke the truth,

    possessed of a keen, fluent tongue:

  9. إن المُحاطَ به لأو

    لى بالذليل من المُحيطِ

    Surely the one enclosed is more

    deserving of being called abased than the one enclosing him.