لِمَن سَواقِطُ صِبيانٍ مُنَبَّذَةٍ

لِمَن سَواقِطُ صِبيانٍ مُنَبَّذَةٍ

باتَت تَفَحَّصُ في بَطحاءِ أَجيادِ

باتَت تَفَحَّصُ في بَطحاءِ أَجيادِ

Whose are these cast-off children, abandoned,

For whom are the stray toys of castaway boys

who spent the night scrabbling in the gravel plain of Ajyād?

Left to roam the wild plains where the horses graze?

باتَت تَمَخَّضُ ما كانَت قَوابِلُها

باتَت تَمَخَّضُ ما كانَت قَوابِلُها

إِلّا الوُحوشَ وَإِلّا جِنَّةَ الوادي

إِلّا الوُحوشَ وَإِلّا جِنَّةَ الوادي

She spent the night in labor, with no midwives

Left to birth whatever their birth-givers may be -

but wild beasts and the jinn of the valley.

Just beasts and valley sprites are their midwives.

فيهِم صَبِيٌّ لَهُ أُمٌّ لَها نَسَبٌ

فيهِم صَبِيٌّ لَهُ أُمٌّ لَها نَسَبٌ

في ذُروَةٍ مِن ذُرى الأَحسابِ أُبّادِ

في ذُروَةٍ مِن ذُرى الأَحسابِ أُبّادِ

Among them is a boy whose mother has a lineage

One boy has a mother of noble descent -

at a pinnacle among the heights of noble ancestry—Ubbād.

At the peak of a noble and ancient line,

تَقولُ وَهناً وَقَد جَدَّ المَخاضُ بِها

تَقولُ وَهناً وَقَد جَدَّ المَخاضُ بِها

يا لَيتَني كُنتُ أَرعى الشَولَ لِلغادي

يا لَيتَني كُنتُ أَرعى الشَولَ لِلغادي

She says late at night, as her labor grows fierce,

Crying weakly as labor pains rack her frame:

“Oh, if only I were tending the dry she-camels for the dawn traveler!”

"Would I herded the mountain goats passing by!"

قَد غادَروهُ لِحُرِّ الوَجهِ مُنعَفِراً

قَد غادَروهُ لِحُرِّ الوَجهِ مُنعَفِراً

وَخالُها وَأَبوها سَيِّدُ النادي

وَخالُها وَأَبوها سَيِّدُ النادي

They have left him face-down, smeared with dust,

They left him there, lips cracked from the sun's hot blaze,

though her maternal uncle and her father are chiefs of the assembly.

Though his uncle and father are lords of the tribe.