أَتِرْبَ الخَنَى ما لِابْنِ أُمِّكَ مُولَعاً

أَتِرْبَ الخَنَى ما لِابْنِ أُمِّكَ مُولَعاً

بِتِرْبِ الندى وَابْنِ العُلا وَأَخي الحَسَبْ

بِتِرْبِ الندى وَابْنِ العُلا وَأَخي الحَسَبْ

O peer of obscenity, why is your mother's son obsessed

Do you seek to slander the son of your mother's friend

with the peer of generosity, the son of eminence and brother of ancestral honor?

With your fondness for the dust of dew and the tall man's son and my brother of noble lineage?

أَيَمْشِي بِعِرْضِي في الأَراذِلِ خامِلٌ

أَيَمْشِي بِعِرْضِي في الأَراذِلِ خامِلٌ

خَفِيُّ مَساري العِرْقِ مُؤْتَشَبُ النَّسَبْ

خَفِيُّ مَساري العِرْقِ مُؤْتَشَبُ النَّسَبْ

Does a nobody go about maligning my honor among the base—

Does he walk with my honor among the worthless, downcast,

his bloodline's pathways obscure, his ancestry tangled?

His lineage concealed, roots entangled, ancestry falsified?

وَلي دَوْحَةٌ فَوْقَ السَّماواتِ فَرْعُها

وَلي دَوْحَةٌ فَوْقَ السَّماواتِ فَرْعُها

وَتَحْتَ قَرارِ الأَرْضِ مِنْ عِرْقِها شُعَبْ

وَتَحْتَ قَرارِ الأَرْضِ مِنْ عِرْقِها شُعَبْ

And I have a great tree, its bough above the heavens,

I have a palm tree reaching to the heavens above, its branches spread wide,

and beneath the earth's base lie offshoots of its root.

And beneath the earth's surface, its roots run deep.

فَخالِي رَفيعُ السَّمْكِ في العُجْمِ بَيْتُهُ

فَخالِي رَفيعُ السَّمْكِ في العُجْمِ بَيْتُهُ

وَعَمِّي لَهُ جُرْثومَةُ المَجْدِ في العَرَبْ

وَعَمِّي لَهُ جُرْثومَةُ المَجْدِ في العَرَبْ

For my maternal uncle's house rises high among the non-Arabs,

So my uncle's house is lofty among foreigners,

and my paternal uncle possesses the root of glory among the Arabs.

And my father's is the glory of nobility among Arabs.

وَلَيْسَ يُجارِي مُقْرِفٌ ذا صَراحَةٍ

وَلَيْسَ يُجارِي مُقْرِفٌ ذا صَراحَةٍ

مِنَ الخَيْلِ حَتّى تَسْتَوي الرَّأْسُ وَالذَّنَبْ

مِنَ الخَيْلِ حَتّى تَسْتَوي الرَّأْسُ وَالذَّنَبْ

And no crossbred can keep pace with a purebred

No bare-faced slanderer can rival me,

among horses, until head and tail become equal.

Not until the head and tail of a horse are made equal.

لَعَمْرُكَ إِنّي حينَ أَعْتَدُّ في الوَرى

لَعَمْرُكَ إِنّي حينَ أَعْتَدُّ في الوَرى

لَكَالمنْدَلِيِّ الرَّطْبِ يُعْتَدُّ في الحَطَبْ

لَكَالمنْدَلِيِّ الرَّطْبِ يُعْتَدُّ في الحَطَبْ

By your life, when I count myself among mankind,

By your life! When I am held in high esteem among people

I am surely like moist Mandali aloeswood counted among firewood.

I am like wet tinder held in high esteem for burning firewood.