إِن كانَ شَكلُكَ غَيرَ مُتَّفَقٍ

إِن كانَ شَكلُكَ غَيرَ مُتَّفَقٍ

فَكَذا خِلالُكَ غَيرَ مُؤتَلِفَه

فَكَذا خِلالُكَ غَيرَ مُؤتَلِفَه

If your appearance is ill-proportioned,

If your appearance lacks harmony,

so too are your traits discordant.

so too your traits lack accord.

مِن عُصبَةٍ شَتّى إِذا اِجتَمَعوا

مِن عُصبَةٍ شَتّى إِذا اِجتَمَعوا

شَبَّهتُ دارَكُمُ بِهِ عَرَفَه

شَبَّهتُ دارَكُمُ بِهِ عَرَفَه

From a motley clan—when they gather,

You come from a motley band; when they gathered,

I liken your house, thereby, to ʿArafa.

I likened your house on that account to Arafah.

صُوِّرتَ مِن نُطَفٍ قَدِ اِختَلَفَت

صُوِّرتَ مِن نُطَفٍ قَدِ اِختَلَفَت

فَأَتَت خِلالُكَ وَهيَ مُختَلِفَه

فَأَتَت خِلالُكَ وَهيَ مُختَلِفَه

You were fashioned from disparate drops of seed,

You were fashioned from disparate drops of semen,

so your traits emerged disparate too.

so your traits emerged, differing from one another.

فَوَرَثتَ مِن ذا قُبحَ مَنظَرِهِ

فَوَرَثتَ مِن ذا قُبحَ مَنظَرِهِ

وَوَرَثتَ ذاكَ خَناهُ أَو صَلَفَه

وَوَرَثتَ ذاكَ خَناهُ أَو صَلَفَه

From this one you inherited his ugly looks,

Thus from this one you inherited his ugly appearance,

and from that one his lewdness—or his conceit.

and from that one you inherited his obscenity or arrogance.

عَيَّرتَني أَن رُحتُ في سَمَلٍ

عَيَّرتَني أَن رُحتُ في سَمَلٍ

وَالدُرُ لا تُزري بِهِ الصَدفَه

وَالدُرُ لا تُزري بِهِ الصَدفَه

You taunted me for going about in rags,

You taunted me for going about in a threadbare garment,

but a pearl is not demeaned by its shell.

yet the shell does not diminish the pearl.