قُل لِعَبدونَ أَينَ ذاكَ الحَياءُ

قُل لِعَبدونَ أَينَ ذاكَ الحَياءُ

إِنَّ داءَ المُجونِ داءٌ عَياءُ

إِنَّ داءَ المُجونِ داءٌ عَياءُ

Say to ʿAbdūn: where is that sense of shame?

Say to 'Abdun, where is that shyness now?

Indeed, the disease of licentiousness is an incurable disease.

The vice of the licentious is shamelessness.

طالَما كُنتَ قَبلُ عِندي مَنيعاً

طالَما كُنتَ قَبلُ عِندي مَنيعاً

وَمَصوناً كَما يُصانُ الرِداءُ

وَمَصوناً كَما يُصانُ الرِداءُ

You had long been unassailable in my eyes,

Long have you been virtuous and chaste to me,

And protected as a cloak is protected.

Guarded like a cloak is guarded.

ثُمَّ كَشَّحتَني عَلى غَيرِ جُرمٍ

ثُمَّ كَشَّحتَني عَلى غَيرِ جُرمٍ

فَأَنا وَالمُبارَكِيُّ سَواءُ

فَأَنا وَالمُبارَكِيُّ سَواءُ

Then you cast me off, though I had done no wrong;

Yet now you deny me though I've done no wrong,

So al-Mubārakī and I are alike.

So I and the blessed one are equal.

قالَ لي الناصِحونَ وَهوَ مَقالٌ

قالَ لي الناصِحونَ وَهوَ مَقالٌ

ذَمَّ مَن كانَ خامِلاً إِطراءُ

ذَمَّ مَن كانَ خامِلاً إِطراءُ

My advisers told me—and this was their saying:

The admonishers told me, and their words

“Disparaging someone obscure is praise.”

Rebuked whoever was negligent in praise.

صَدَقوا في الهِجاءِ رِفعَةُ أَقوا

صَدَقوا في الهِجاءِ رِفعَةُ أَقوا

مٍ طَغامٍ فَلَيسَ عِندي هِجاءُ

مٍ طَغامٍ فَلَيسَ عِندي هِجاءُ

They were right: satire raises the standing of people—

They spoke truly in dispraise - reputations rise

Base rabble—so I have no satire to offer.

With the vilification of an oppressive rabble, so I have no dispraise.