قولا لِمَن يَعشَقُ قَصرِيَّةً

قولا لِمَن يَعشَقُ قَصرِيَّةً

يَستَفُّ حُرفاً قَبلَ إِفلاسِهِ

يَستَفُّ حُرفاً قَبلَ إِفلاسِهِ

Tell, you two, whoever loves a Qaṣriyya woman:

Tell those who love fine poetry

Speak to the one who loves a pampered palace dame,

He swallows cress dry before he goes bankrupt.

And polish a phrase before their ruin

That he shall taste bitterness before his fortune fails,

فَقَد ثَوى في كَفِّ سَدّاجَةٍ

فَقَد ثَوى في كَفِّ سَدّاجَةٍ

مِسرِعَةٍ في قَلعِ أَضراسِهِ

مِسرِعَةٍ في قَلعِ أَضراسِهِ

For he has settled in a swindling woman's grasp,

That they have grasped a viper

For he has fallen into the clutches of a grand deceiver,

one quick to pull out his molars.

Hastening to knock out their teeth

Who is swift to extract his molars one by one,

تُواصِلُ العاشِقَ حَتّى إِذا

تُواصِلُ العاشِقَ حَتّى إِذا

ما أَخَذَ الفَقرُ بِأَنفاسِهِ

ما أَخَذَ الفَقرُ بِأَنفاسِهِ

She keeps her lover company until, when

It leads the lover until poverty

She keeps the lover close, yet only until,

poverty has taken hold of his breath,

Grips his breath

Poverty tightens its grip upon his breath,

دَلَّت بِغَدرٍ وَقُرونُ الفَتى

دَلَّت بِغَدرٍ وَقُرونُ الفَتى

تَهتَزُّ بِالكَشخِ عَلى راسِهِ

تَهتَزُّ بِالكَشخِ عَلى راسِهِ

she turns treacherously coy, while the young man's horns

It betrays and the youth's horns

Then she reveals her treachery, as the young man's horns,

quiver with cuckoldry upon his head.

Tremble from the pounding on his head

Tremble with the mark of the cuckold upon his head.