وَلَمْ أَرَ كالكسكاكِ إذْ راقَ دُهُنُهُ

وَلَمْ أَرَ كالكسكاكِ إذْ راقَ دُهُنُهُ

وَلاحَ لهُ نَشْرٌ وَفَاحَ لَهُ نَشْرُ

وَلاحَ لهُ نَشْرٌ وَفَاحَ لَهُ نَشْرُ

And I have seen nothing like kaskāk when its fat gleamed,

I have not seen the flask like the flask of Kiskak

And its scent revealed itself, and its fragrance wafted.

When its oil drips, it has no clarity, but it has clarity when it diffuses.

وما عَدَلَ الطَّبَّاخُ فيهِ وَجَوْرُهُ

وما عَدَلَ الطَّبَّاخُ فيهِ وَجَوْرُهُ

هَوَ العَدْلُ فَافهَمْ مَا تَضمَّنهُ الشِّعْرُ

هَوَ العَدْلُ فَافهَمْ مَا تَضمَّنهُ الشِّعْرُ

And the cook was not fair with it, yet his unfairness

The cook was not just in it, yet his injustice

Is fairness itself—so understand what the verse contains.

Is justice, so understand what the poetry implies.

وَتِسعَةُ أَعْشَارٍ لَعَمْرُكَ لَحْمةٌ

وَتِسعَةُ أَعْشَارٍ لَعَمْرُكَ لَحْمةٌ

وَمَا فِيهِ مِن بُرٍّ لَعَمْرِى وَلا عُشْرُ

وَمَا فِيهِ مِن بُرٍّ لَعَمْرِى وَلا عُشْرُ

And nine tenths, by your life, are meat;

Nine tenths of you, by your life, are flesh

And the wheat in it, by my life, is not even a tenth.

And what is in you of virtue, by my life, is not even a tenth.