1. بلاغة ابن فراسٍ

    كجسمه من رُهُوصِ

    The eloquence of Ibn Firas

    is, like his body, built of courses of stone.

  2. يُسيءُ طوراً وطوراً

    تلقاه لصّ اللصوصِ

    At times he does badly; at other times

    you find him the thief of thieves.

  3. لا مُخطئاً سرقاتٍ

    ولا مُصيب فُصوص

    Unerring in his thefts,

    yet never hitting upon gems.

  4. نُبِّئتُ أن نساءً

    له ذوات خُصوص

    I was told that some women

    of his have reed huts.

  5. يُصطَدْنَ صيد الشبابي

    طِ جَهرةً بالشُّصوص

    They are caught as carp are caught,

    openly, with fishhooks.

  6. أجاعَهُنَّ فأعْمل

    ن حيلةً في الخلوص

    He starved them, so they employed

    a scheme to escape.

  7. حتى إذا هي أعيتْ

    ركبنَ كل قَمُوص

    Until, when it proved futile,

    they mounted every bucking beast.

  8. كم ذاتِ طرفٍ ربوخٍ

    وذاتِ ساق رقوص

    Many a woman with a languid gaze,

    and one with a dancing leg!

  9. تُنَصُّ كلُّ فتاةٍ

    مِنهن نصّ القَلُوص

    Every young woman is driven hard,

    among them, as a young she-camel is driven.

  10. تُناك بالقوتِ في بي

    ت زائدٍ منقوص

    She is fucked for food in a house

    at once enlarged and diminished:

  11. زيادة من قرونٍ

    على عَضُوضٍ مصوص

    an increase in horns

    upon a biter and sucker,

  12. إلى مناقصَ مُستأ

    ثرٍ بها مخصوص

    alongside shortcomings he monopolizes,

    peculiarly his alone.

  13. وما تأوّلتُ شتْماً

    فيه سوى المنصوص

    And I have construed no insult

    about him beyond what is explicitly stated,

  14. ولا اقتصصْتُ حديثاً

    عنه خلا مقصوص

    nor have I recounted any tale

    about him except what has been told.

  15. العقلُ مِعشار عقل

    والشخص مثل شُخوص

    His mind is a tenth of a mind,

    and his body like several bodies.

  16. ما بالُ بخلك يا مِس

    حلَ الحمارِ النَّحُوص

    What accounts for your stinginess, O tongue

    of the balking ass?

  17. لم يُبْنَ عقلك بنيا

    نَ جِسمك المرصوص

    Your mind was not built like

    your solidly packed body.