قال وأجفان مقلتيه تكف

وجسمه ظاهر السقام دنف

He said, as the lids of his two eyes dripped tears,

and his body, plainly ailing, was wasted:

أعمالنا هذه التي كثر ال

إرجاف فيها بنا فليس تقف

“These posts of ours, about which there has been so much

rumor-mongering concerning us, will not last.

قد صرفونا عنها فقلت لهم

نعم وصادف عين واو نون ألف

They have dismissed us from them.” So I said to them:

“Yes—and ṣād, fāʾ, ʿayn, wāw, nūn, alif,” spelling “they slapped us.”