Sol 6.1

  1. لا تَبغِ شَرَّ اِمرِئٍ شَرّاً مِنَ الداءِ

    وَاِقدَح بِحِلمٍ وَلا تَقدَح بِشَحناءِ

    Do not seek a man's malice, worse than disease.

    And strike sparks with forbearance, not with rancor.

  2. ما لي وَأَنتَ ضَعيفٌ غَيرَ مُرتَقَبٍ

    أُبقي عَلَيكَ وَتَفري غَيرَ إِبقاءِ

    Why do I, when you are weak and not to be feared,

    spare you, while you tear at me without mercy?

  3. مَهلاً فَإِنَّ حِياضَ الحَربِ مُترَعَةٌ

    مِنَ الذُعافِ مُرارٌ تَحتَ حَلواءِ

    Easy! For the basins of war are brimming

    with deadly poison—bitterness beneath sweetness.

  4. أَحينَ طُلتَ عَلى مَن قالَ قافِيَةً

    وَطالَ شِعري بِحَيٍّ بَعدَ أَحياءِ

    Was it when you bested someone who uttered a rhyme,

    while my poetry prevailed over tribe after tribe,

  5. أَلزَمتَ عَينَكَ مِن بَغضائِنا حَوَلاً

    لَو قَد وَسَمتُكَ عادَت غَيرَ حَولاءِ

    that you made your eye squint from hatred of us?

    Had I branded you, it would have been straight again.

  6. اِطلُب رِضايَ وَلا تَطلُب مُشاغَبَتي

    لا يَحمِلُ الضَرِعُ المُقوَرُّ أَعبائي

    Seek my favor, and do not seek to quarrel with me.

    The shriveled weakling cannot bear my burdens.

  7. أَنا المُرَعَّثُ لا أَخفى عَلى أَحَدٍ

    ذَرَّت بِيَ الشَمسُ لِلداني وَلِلنائي

    I am al-Muraʿʿath, hidden from no one;

    the sun has risen with me for those near and far.

  8. يَغدو الخَليفَةُ مِثلي في مَحاسِنِهِ

    وَلَستَ مِثلي فَنَم ياماضِغَ الماءِ

    The caliph becomes like me in his fine qualities;

    but you are not like me, so sleep, you chewer of water!

  9. إِنّي إِذا شَغَلَت قَوماً فِقاحُهُمُ

    رَحبُ المَسالِكِ نَهّاضٌ بِبَزلاءِ

    Indeed, when men's anuses preoccupy them, I

    have ample paths and readily rise to a formidable task.

  10. يَثوي الوُفودُ وَأُدعى قَبلَ يَومِهُمُ

    إِلى الحِباءِ وَلَم أَحضُر بِرَقّاءِ

    Delegations linger, while I am summoned before their turn

    to receive gifts, though I did not attend at Raqqa.

  11. لَو كانَ يَحيى تَميمِيّاً أَسَأتُ بِهِ

    لَكِنَّهُ قُرَشِيٌّ فَرخُ بَطحاءِ

    If Yahya were a Tamimi, I would have spoken ill of him;

    but he is a Qurashi, a fledgling of Batha.

  12. يَحيى فَتىً هاشِمِيٌّ عَزَّ جانِبُهُ

    فَلا يُلامُ وَإِن أَجرى مَعَ الشاءِ

    Yahya is a Hashimi youth whose flank is unassailable;

    so he is not blamed, even if he races with sheep.

  13. نِعمَ الفَتى مِن قُرَيشٍ لا نُدافِعُهُ

    عَنِ النَبِيِّ وَإِن كانَ اِبنَ كَلّاءِ

    A fine youth of Quraysh! We do not drive him away

    from the Prophet, even if he is a son of Kallāʾ.

  14. ما زالَ في سُرَّةِ البَطحاءِ مَنبِتُهُ

    مُقابَلاً بَينَ بَرديٍّ وَحَلفاءِ

    His roots have always been in the heart of Batha,

    well-born between papyrus and halfa grass.

  15. يآ أَسَدَ الحَيِّ إِن راحوا بِمَأدُبَةٍ

    وَثَعلَبَ الحَيِّ إِن ذافوا لِأَعداءِ

    O lion of the tribe when they go to a feast,

    and fox of the tribe when they advance against foes!

  16. لا تَحسَبَنّي كَأَيرٍ بِتَّ تَمسَحُهُ

    كَيما يَقومُ وَيَأبى غَيرَ إِغفاءِ

    Do not take me for a cock you spent the night stroking

    so it would rise, while it refuses anything but sleep.

  17. قَد سَبَّحَ الناسُ مِن وَسمي أَبا عُمَرٍ

    فَهَل رَبَعتَ عَلى تَسبيحَ قَرّاءِ

    People have cried "Glory be to God!" at my branding of Abu Umar;

    have you, then, held back at the reciters' cries of praise?

  18. كَوَيتُ قَوماً بِمِكواتي فَما صَبَروا

    عَلى العِقابِ وَقَد دَبّوا بِدَهياءِ

    I branded some men with my branding iron, so they could not endure

    the punishment, though they had crept up with a dire scheme.

  19. وَرُبَّما أَغرَقَ الأَدنى فَقُلتُ لَهُ

    إِن كانَ مِن نَفَري أَو نَجلَ آبائي

    And sometimes one close to me goes too far, and I say to him—

    if he is of my band or an offspring of my forefathers—

  20. قُل ما بَدا لَكَ مِن زورٍ وَمِن كَذِبٍ

    حِلمي أَصَمُّ وَأُذني غَيرُ صَمّاءِ

    Say whatever falsehood and lies come to your mind:

    my forbearance is deaf, but my ear is not.

  21. يَنزو اللَئيمُ وَلَو أَلقَيتَ مِئزَرَهُ

    لاحَت بِوَجعائِهِ آثارُ كَوّاءِ

    The wretch capers; were you to cast off his loincloth,

    a brander's marks would show on his sore anus.

  22. ما زِلتَ تَطعَنُ بِالمَلعونِ في دُبُرٍ

    حَتّى اِشتَرَيتَ حُلاقاً في اِستِ خَرّاءِ

    You kept thrusting with the accursed thing into an anus,

    until you bought yourself doom in a shitter's ass.

  23. هَلّا مَنَعتُم بَني وَأدانَ أُمَّكُمُ

    مِنَ المُوَسَّمِ إِذ يَسري بِقَنفاءِ

    Why did you not protect your mother, sons of Waʾdan,

    from the branded fellow as he went by night with a thick glans?

  24. بِتُّم نِياماً وَباتَ العِلجُ يَنفُضُها

    في لَيلَةٍ مِثلِ ضَوءِ الصُبحِ قَمراءِ

    You spent the night asleep, while the foreign brute spent it shaking her,

    on a moonlit night, bright as dawn's light.

  25. وَيلُ اِمِّهِ نَبَطِيّاً فَضَّ خاتَمَها

    بِفَيشَةٍ مِثلِ رَأسِ الكَلبِ جَوفاءِ

    Woe to his mother! That Nabataean broke her seal

    with a hollow glans like a dog's head.