1. عَوى الضبعُ الملفلفُ في الثيابِ

    ليصرفنا بفاتحة الكتابِ

    The hyena swathed in clothes howled,

    to dismiss us with the Opening of the Book.

  2. وَقابلنا بِقهقهةٍ ووجهٍ

    مُراق الماءِ مسودّ الإهابِ

    And met us with a guffaw and a face,

    its water of honor spilled, its hide blackened.

  3. وَكشّر عَن نيوبٍ قالحاتٍ

    تراكم فوقَها خرء الذبابِ

    And bared yellow-stained fangs,

    on which fly droppings had piled up.

  4. وَفجّع جَمعنا بغراب بينٍ

    لَحاه اللّه عنّا من غرابِ

    And grieved our gathering with a raven of parting—

    may God curse him for us—what a raven!

  5. يُقهقه حَولنا فيخال دبّاً

    ويحكي هذوه هذو الكلابِ

    He guffaws around us and is taken for a bear,

    and his babble mimics the babble of dogs.

  6. وجاشَ بأخنسٍ جُعليّ شمٍّ

    فَأنكر عرف وردٍ مستطابِ

    And snorted through a snub nose with a dung beetle's sense of smell,

    so he spurned the fragrance of pleasant roses.

  7. يُعايننا أصيبَ بأخفشيهِ

    فَوارى الشمس منّا بالحجابِ

    He eyes us—may his two weak eyes be stricken!—

    then hid the sun from us behind a veil.

  8. كأسودَ بارحٍ لم يعن إلّا

    بأكلِ الشرشمانة والضبابِ

    Like an ill-omened black serpent, concerned with nothing but

    eating the sandfish skink and spiny-tailed lizards.

  9. لَقد ساء الأنام فسيء حتّى

    دُعي ساسي لسوء الإكتسابِ

    Indeed, he wronged mankind and was wronged in turn, until

    he was called Sasi for the evil he had earned.