1. أَيا مَلِكَ النَّحْوِ والحاءُ مِنْ

    تَهَجِّيهِ من تَحت قد أعْجَمُوها

    O king of grammar—the letter ḥāʾ in

    its spelling they have dotted underneath.

  2. أتانا قياسُكَ هذا الذي

    يُعَجِّمُ أشياءَ قد أَعْرَبُوهَا

    This analogy of yours has reached us, which

    obscures things they had made clear.

  3. ولمّا تصنَّعت في العاصَوي

    غدا وجْهُ جَهْلِكَ فيه وُجُوهَا

    And when you put on airs over ‘al-ʿĀṣawī,’

    the face of your ignorance in it became many faces.

  4. وقالوا قَفا الشيخ إنّ المُلُو

    كَ إذا دَخَلُوا قريةً أَفْسَدُوهَا

    And behind the shaykh’s back they said, ‘Indeed, kings,

    when they enter a town, lay it waste.’