1. لا تحاولْ منه اقترابا ففَاهُ

    صار يجري بالقدْحِ في إفراطِ

    Do not try to draw near him, for his mouth

    has begun pouring out disparagement to excess.

  2. ذبلتْ أزهارُ اللباقةِ فيه

    فامتطى في القول الحمارَ "الواطي"

    The flowers of tact have withered in him,

    so in speech he mounted the "lowly" donkey.

  3. لم يزلْ يُقْذي العيْنَ مرْآهُ حتى

    جعَلَتْ تلْقاه بكلِّ احتياطِ

    The sight of him kept irritating the eye, until

    it began to face him with every precaution.

  4. و تحاشتْه الأذْن خوْفَ تأذٍّ

    إذْ له في الأسماع وقْعُ السياطِ

    And the ear shunned him for fear of harm,

    for his impact on the ears is that of whips.

  5. ***

    الحمد لله لي الأوراقُ و القلمُ

    ***

    Praise be to God: I have paper and pen.

  6. أُلقي به لهما إن نابني ألمُ

    هما سلاحي بدنيا عَمَّها شجعٌ

    If pain befalls me, I cast it upon them both.

    They are my weapon in a world pervaded by greed,

  7. فيها على الشرفاءِ السُّوقَةُ التأموا

    ***

    where the rabble have banded together against the honorable.

    ***

  8. دفَنَ القراءةَ

    و انثنى المسكين يقترف الكتابةَ

    He buried reading,

    and the poor fellow turned to perpetrating writing.

  9. بعد وقتٍ

    كان كاتبُنا

    After a while,

    our writer was

  10. يعاني السكتةَ الإبداعيةْ.

    ***

    suffering a creative stroke.

    ***

  11. كل امرئ دالٌّ عليه ذوقُهُ

    بالذوقِ تنشأُ قيمةُ الإنسانِ

    Each person's taste reveals who they are.

    A person's worth arises from taste.

  12. من كان يأكل وردةً تُهدى له

    ما عنده فضلٌ على الحيوانِ

    Whoever eats a rose given to him

    is no better than an animal.

  13. ***

    البحر صورةُ شخصٍ حائرٍ أبدا

    ***

    The sea is the image of a person forever bewildered,

  14. و الموج أفكاره لم تأْلُ تضطربُ

    كأنه تاجرٌ بارتْ تجارته

    and the waves are his thoughts, never ceasing to churn.

    As though he were a merchant whose trade has stagnated,

  15. أو شاعرٌ من جفاء الحظِ مُكتئِبُ​

    or a poet dejected by fortune's coldness.