1. I yearn for prostration in prayer
And fasting in the scorching heat

2. Many fast like I do
Yet break their fast with iced water

3. While I break my deficient fast
With water hot as spears

4. My affairs perplex me
Whether I'm perceptive or obtuse

5. I'm punished by high prices and scarce provisions
And taken to account for every coin

6. And night comes with fretting and fear
Like a sharpened sword and destroying pillage

7. I see this world and its tribulations like a pregnant woman
Neither hopeless nor giving birth

8. If only this barren woman
Would deliver, even if a venomous snake