1. I rolled up my sleeves to the elbows
And washed my clothes with my palms

2. And hung them out in the sun to dry
For the eyes and wandering souls to see

3. I sorted them out in number
Though once mixed kind with kind

4. Between the too cold that does not warm
And the exposed that makes one blush

5. And I looked at them askance
Reproachfully, while they glared at me harshly

6. I learned the language of clothes
And decoded it letter by letter

7. I was not fooled by their rustling
Knowing what lies beneath the shelf

8. For so long they had flapped
Over a fierce heart like an elephant’s thick skin

9. And for so long they were created
Over a kind heart like the dawn’s radiance

10. Their collars whispered to me
Exchanging a thousand glances and winks

11. And the sleeves stretched out tongues
Swearing, soothing...appeasing

12. In the most eloquent speech they contained
A language without grammar or morphology:

13. For ages I was gently cozying up to you
O worst of gentle creatures

14. Shielding you from misfortunes
While in your hands was my death stick

15. O eternally inclined to flee
Harm, loss, and disregard

16. None of the closeness was from me
But from thickening, sickening callousness

17. As cruel as you are... O son of
Deluded female obsessed with dryness

18. They fled the innocent “nakedness”
And a heated “inferno” that heals and alleviates

19. And heavily "clotted" what gushed out
From hearts of thickness and occlusion

20. The one who created you gave you
Eyes full of joy and wit!

21. The claws of a relaxed lion
And the fangs of a merciless wolf

22. How ugly is the arrogant with the verse
Of strength...and the humiliating weakness

23. He strips naked, and you’d think
He is an ape seeking refuge indoors

24. If only he who exaggerates his description
Were leashed and whipped

25. So if he takes me on, he struts about
Insufferable in his arrogance

26. And is submissive like a peacock dragging
His tail atop the carpets

27. What a difference between him fiery
Kindling an epic's blaze and extinguishing it

28. And trampling necks...and him
A dwarf in pants and slippers?

29. Loutish features from overwhelming
The conscience to conceal

30. As if above his forehead
A blinded, sunken tyrant

31. He is blind and scorns my glance
And melts into the glances of winking

32. And I see them, two beasts in
Two cages...front and back

33. Foolishly I wanted you cultured
Feigning glances of kindness

34. And I who knew you as a storm
That destroys the garbage dump's chaff

35. You never stopped tearing my muslin
Ripping it into quarters and halves

36. Shall I say how you violated me?
Or is some hint enough?!

37. Ugh, your sweet tongue
And what it hides a thousand ughs

38. And I was miserable, a vow
On the ‘awrahs’ a perpetual charity

39. How many tears atop my chest
From blood you deprived of sleep

40. And poisonous "drool" for a friend
Mixed into “honey” subtly

41. A hand that greets with
Dissimulation...and slaughters with a hand

42.
And you wander into deceits, and into

43. Pleading, and fabricating, and twisting
To shroud the coffin of a crime

44. In my futile, pointless endeavor
And behind that a choked up

45. Grudge in any cave
Casting its shadow on your face

46. “Al-Kabi” and bestowing
I realized your secret though above it

47. Like a wound you recognize by bleeding
Shall I monitor it to annoy

48. Expel it and pardon?
And you return wiping what remains

49. In you of “humanity” thus straining it
And so the chaser escapes

50. The fear of the sword to the sword
It was not the day you plucked me

51. And circled proudly with my kidnapping
And you thought me a plaything...

52. Weaving threads atop the spindle
I clothe “the naked” and my matter

53. Ends up in “baskets” and “shelves”
I was created purer than you

54. More virtuous in my ways
Of a clay unlike your clay

55. In the sanctuary’s fever, intimate
For me, the stars are my ceiling

56. And the fringes of “linen” my lids
And the charm of my nakedness is wrapped

57. In night's veils and concealment
And it showers me with its scent

58. The shy morning light's pure drizzle
And I take refuge from mid-day’s blaze

59. Hastening my ripening and plucking
The traitorous brooks water me

60. And enchant me with rhythm
And from the clouds an umbrella

61. Of the softest down
And I play in the dew drops

62. Its sprinkles so I flutter bashfully
O this is some of the traits

63. Bitter, some of the harshness
You exceeded in insulting me, enough!

64. And went too far in describing and characterizing me
And lied when you portrayed me

65. As one who was never of my ilk
And you would have been right if you had accused me

66. Of the forbearing, lenient one’s sin
And you did not know what motives

67. Pull gentleness or violence from me
Without treachery, an ally

68. Though many alliances may betray
I burn my lapse

69. And sin in my fervor’s hell
And I erase any evil deed

70. However much good I manifest, with a thousand
And when the one deceived gloats

71. Belittling the lesser and pardoning
I am the one who humbles myself with my strength

72. To unveil the veil of my weakness
Like the moon after its absence

73. Increases in illumination and revelation
So keep on being conceited if you are