ذمم تباع وتشترى

ذمم تباع وتشترى

تعرى وتنبذ بالعرا

تعرى وتنبذ بالعرا

Consciences are sold and bought.

Promises are sold and bought

They are stripped bare and cast out into the open.

They are stripped bare and discarded in the wilderness

وتصيدها الاهوا وك

وتصيدها الاهوا وك

ل الصيد في جوف الفرا

ل الصيد في جوف الفرا

And passions hunt them down; and all

And desires hunt them down

the game is in the wild ass's belly.

All prey in the belly of emptiness

عشواء تخبط في الظلا

عشواء تخبط في الظلا

م فلا تراك ولا ترى

م فلا تراك ولا ترى

Blind, they flounder in the darkness,

A blind wanderer groping in the darkness

so they neither see you nor see at all.

Seeing neither you nor itself

وسعت ولكن أخفقت

وسعت ولكن أخفقت

وخطت ولكن للورا

وخطت ولكن للورا

And they strove, but failed;

It expanded but failed

and stepped, but backward;

It walked but backwards

ورمت ولكن نفسها

ورمت ولكن نفسها

حتى اعتراها ما اعترى

حتى اعتراها ما اعترى

and shot, but at themselves,

It threw but itself

until what befell them befell them.

Until what happened happened

خرجت ولكن صورة

خرجت ولكن صورة

شوهاء ما بين الورى

شوهاء ما بين الورى

They emerged, but as a form

It went out but as

misshapen among humankind.

A distorted image between existence

تدعو ولا من سامع

تدعو ولا من سامع

وكذاك شأن المزدرى

وكذاك شأن المزدرى

They call, but no one listens;

Calling but none who hears

and such is the lot of the despised.

Such is the state of the outcast

ترجو اللحاق بمحرز

ترجو اللحاق بمحرز

سبقا وتمشي القهقري

سبقا وتمشي القهقري

They hope to catch up with one who has gained

It hopes to catch up with the safe haven

a lead, yet they walk backward.

Going forward yet walking backwards

والبون بينهما كما

والبون بينهما كما

بين الثريا والثرى

بين الثريا والثرى

And the gulf between the two is like that

The distance between them is as

between the Pleiades and the earth.

Between a star and the earth