يَقولونَ لِمَ أَرخَصتَ شِعرَكَ في الوَرى

يَقولونَ لِمَ أَرخَصتَ شِعرَكَ في الوَرى

فَقُلتُ لَهُم إِذ ماتَ أَهلُ المَكارِمِ

فَقُلتُ لَهُم إِذ ماتَ أَهلُ المَكارِمِ

They say, “Why have you cheapened your poetry among humankind?”

They ask me why I cheapened my poetry among the people,

So I told them, “Since the generous have died,

So I said to them, since the virtuous died out,

أُجازى عَلى الشِعرِ الشَعيرَ وَإِنَّهُ

أُجازى عَلى الشِعرِ الشَعيرَ وَإِنَّهُ

كَثيرٌ إِذا اِستَخلَصتُهُ مِن بَهائِمِ

كَثيرٌ إِذا اِستَخلَصتُهُ مِن بَهائِمِ

I am paid in barley for poetry—and indeed that

I will reward poetry with barley, even though it is

is a great deal, if I can wrest it from beasts.”

Plentiful when I extract it from beasts.