ابن لؤي ماذا أقول له

خزاه ربي وزاد ابنتَهُ

Ibn Lu’ayy—what shall I say to him?

May my Lord disgrace him and increase his craving to be sodomized.

يا رب عفر في وسطه قل

فزعت لما رأيت فيشَتَه

O Lord, rub dust into his middle—say ... [wording unclear].

I was frightened when I saw his cock.

وأرى بلا حشمة ولا ضَجرِ

في سؤة ابن اللئءام سؤتَهُ

And I see, without shame or annoyance,

his privates in the privates of the scoundrels’ son.

فقام مِن تحته اللعين وقد

قامَ عليه فَناكَ بغلَتَهُ

Then the accursed one rose from beneath him, after he had

mounted him; then he fucked his she-mule.

لو لم يكن من بني الحمير لما

صير بنت الحمار فحبتَهُ

If he were not one of the sons of asses, he would not

have made the ass’s daughter his whore [probable reading].

وإن تفكرت في مناسبه

رأيتها أخته وعمتَه

And if you ponder his family ties,

you will find her his sister and his paternal aunt.

مشوه الخلق أبخر قذر

قد قبح الله منه خلقته

Deformed in body, foul-breathed, filthy—

God has indeed made his appearance hideous.

يشم ريح الخرا صدقت ولا

يمكن خلق يشمّ نكهتَهُ

The stench of shit can be smelled—I speak truly—but no

creature can smell his breath.

هجا خطير الندى وكان أذن

جنّته من أذى وجنّته

He lampooned Khaṭīr al-Nadā, who was then

his shield against harm and his paradise.

فيا بني الشعر خرقوا فمه

وقطِّعوا بالنعال قمّته

So, sons of poetry, tear his mouth open,

and shred the crown of his head with sandals.

فما يرى الخير من يرى أبداً

من أهل بغداد شؤم طلعته

For none sees good who ever beholds—

among Baghdad’s people—the ill omen of his face.