1. Alas! This is what I must convey
As I heard it, tracing back the tale

2. An officer died in battle, may he rest in peace
Whenever the mill of war turned, he advanced

3. Leaving behind a wife, her heart pledged to his love
While his heart was preoccupied with her

4. She did not commit indecency or
Sin in a way to shame chastity

5. Anwar was the epitome of chastity
So when people mention chastity, she is depicted

6. The water of beauty flows on her face
It is the full moon in the dark night, or it is more beautiful

7. She felt anguished by the loss of her guardian
And spent nights conversing with worries as her eyes shed tears

8. Her cheek used to be like a blooming rose
But that rose started withering with worries

9. And the fever of emaciation clung to her delicate body
So despite her youth, she started wasting away

10. And every night, sweat flows from her body
And when she coughs, she spits blood

11. The disease has sunk its claws in her guts
Leaving her guts shriveling

12. An illness that exhausted doctors when they saw it
If God does not help her, the matter is problematic

13. Oh Tuberculosis, do you know
Whom you are hurting or against whom you are raging?

14. Spare her, for you have left nothing but skin and bones
Her judgment of imminent death is certain

15. Avoid her! You have torn her chest's guts
Are you charged to torment her till death?

16. Make way for her in life and have mercy on her youth
If you postpone taking her, you are favored

17. God has for you a diseased one whose time has come
And soon she will move to the graves

18. It surprised her with poverty, so to repel it
She sold furniture that used to decorate the house

19. Until the house was devoid of everything in it
With nothing left to sell or move

20. Her close friends and loved ones abandoned her
Even her affluent neighbor shunned her

21. Thereupon, gnawing hunger revealed itself to her
And the incurable disease that plagued her grew worse

22. Her strength faded in the prime of her youth
And she was confused, not knowing what to do

23. That's how illness eats away man's body
When one does not get what one needs to eat

24. She walked slowly, heading to a street
Hoping to get some good and charity

25. She pushed her cute child in front of her
As the spindle draws the thread

26. Hunger had weakened the poor child's steps
Yet he walked as fire burned in his guts

27. He turns to her, crying, so she bends
To console him, comfort his heart and kiss him

28. And wipe his eyes that shed
Tears down his cheeks in streams

29. The mother tries to stop her child's tears
But they flow down despite her

30. A child expert in his mother's hardship
Complains with his eyes but does not ask

31. She heads to the government house, seeking
A late pension but gets nothing

32. Two riyals were allocated for her after her husband
A pittance unable to suffice living

33. She says to the minister of finance, “My lord
I implore you for the Messenger's sake

34. Grant me my pension today and have mercy, for we
Are hungry - if not given, how can we eat?”

35. But he insulted her harshly and rejected her request
Saying, “Die of starvation, I give nothing.”

36. So she returned, her heart brimming with despair
And choking tears penetrating deep

37. Oh minister of finance! You have aggravated
Her illness atop illness - may you be shackled

38. Don't you see Tuberculosis has melted her body
And frailty burdened her with what she cannot bear?

39. She asked you for her due right, dejected
If you fulfilled her request, you would be reasonable

40. She headed back home and spent the night suffering
As the long dark night dragged on

41. She could not even afford oil to light her house
With darkness spreading its garment on the floor

42. So the night sent legions of worries her way
When one legion flees, another charges

43. She says, “Oh, why do I see dawn lagging
When I'm used to it hastening in the past?”

44. Oh night, I wonder - as you have lingered gloomy
Do I blame the days or are you longer?

45. I wish my mother never delivered me or I
Had died before I became sensible

46. I despise my life, for it is
My misery, and death is better to me

47. A life embittered, as if
Misfortunes mingle with it like aloe and colocynth

48. I blame fate for what it has ordained
Without being fair - I seek God's forgiveness

49. Oh death! Come! Life is miserable
Oh soul! Give yourself, for fate is stingy

50. As for my travel if I die, it will not prolong
I will just move from its back to its belly

51. Indeed, the earth's belly is final abode for man
Just like its back is his abode

52. I see no difference between both dwellings
Except one is above and one below

53. Nothing is like the belly of the grave, an abode of justice
Where states are equal - heads and feet

54. I will not constantly complain until
My end draws near, when I will transform

55. But my soul - raise it to the sky
Wandering there from star to star

56. Until it meets the soul of my loyal husband
And the two souls connect as he bashfully watches

57. If from afar my soul sees his soul
It will hasten on foot to it

58. My soul kisses his and smells him
And tells him of what had befallen me

59. And holds on to his clothes out of love
Never parting or leaving for war again

60. I say to him: Oh soul, after you, our living
Has been miserable - barely tolerable

61. Those concerned with our affairs have avoided us
Even former friends and admirers

62. He bowed down before them and pleaded
For the one in love debases himself

63. There she glimpsed a smile on her face
As if seeing her husband's image in her imagination

64. She sees him standing steadily in the air near her
Neither ascending nor descending

65. She stretched her hand toward the vision, beckoning
To him, while coughing amidst them

66. She says: For God's sake! Are you really my beloved?
Or are you my imagination leading me astray?

67. If you are him, speak without hiding
Why, why do you not descend?

68. O beloved! Come closer to me, you are my hope
If I have sinned, I wash it with my tears

69. When the soul remembers you, passion wells within me
And from my love of you, boiling lava flows

70. All has changed except my love for you
My affection is constant, it does not change

71. Do you still love me like before
With the heart you once carried?

72. If you accept me alone, life's difficulties
Become smooth and easily soluble

73. Come to my side! I am ill
With strong fever shaking my body

74. And hurry to bring me a doctor for cure
Like you did before when I complained

75. But I have erred in what I asked
Bewildered, and he who suffers shocks errs too

76. For I want none but you as my doctor
You are my remedy and hoped for healing

77. Stay with us! Do not leave, for if you leave
All woes of fate will depart

78. We will live as we did, happily
Frolicking in the gown of peace

79. No accident will then upset us
Nor anyone separate me from you

80. The vision disappeared, so she said: Alas! You are dead!
But my soul will come to you

81. She turned to face the child
As tears she could not stop poured forth:

82. But my child - who will care for him
If my imminent death that I await visits me?

83. Shall I leave behind my little Ahmad
Alone with no guardian to support him?

84. Ahmad is my basil plant - if I go, who
Will smell him after me? Who will kiss him?

85. Are not life's duties too heavy if foisted
Upon a child like Ahmad?

86. Ahmad fainted from hunger, so she screamed:
“My Lord relieves those helpless!”

87. A neighbor with children came to see
Who was screaming in the dark night

88. She called anxiously and fiercely
As the train of darkness trailed on the floor...

89. In a trembling, broken voice she replied:
“It's me! Oh woman! It is me - the ear of grain!

90. My only son has fainted,
Hunger is killing me!

91. My only son is the one with whom
I console myself in nights of loneliness!

92. My lady! The matter is serious, come help
A neighbor has a duty that must not go amiss!”

93. So she came with a lamp and awakened
The boy's strength until he regained consciousness

94. She gave him milk from her breast
So he slept as his mother tossed and turned

95. Shedding tears while sorrows
Flooded and ebbed in her heart till dawn

96. Then she headed out to a place
Where charitable people reside

97. Wearing miserable clothes and a cloak
Like her guts that constantly shrivel

98. Wiping a teardrop with her finger,
She walked a step or two before halting

99. She stretched her right hand begging, weakened
Ashamed when she asks from them

100. Widow of the soldier, do not be ashamed
The Sublime gives you right the state must grant