أما آن للخلّ المريض بأن يبرا

فإن صحيح الجسم منه شكا الضرا

Is it not time for the ailing friend to be healed?

For truly, even the healthy body complains of the harm afflicted.

توالت عليه جوعةٌ بعد جوعةٍ

أخوكم لها قد صار كالقلم المبرى

Pang after pang of hunger has descended upon him in succession,

Until your brother has become, through them, like a sharpened pen.

به وكل الجوع المعطل للقوى

فللّه ما أنكاه فينا وما أجرا

Entrusted to him is a hunger that nullifies all strength;

By God, how deep it wounds us, and how bold it is!

إذا نمتُ أمسى لي ضجيعاً ملازماً

وإن قمتُ أضحى كالغريم بنا مغرى

When I sleep, it becomes my inseparable bedfellow,

And when I rise, it is like a creditor obsessed with us.

وقد عشت أياماً بظلّ جنابكم

فللّه عيشٌ ما ألذّ وما أمرا

I once lived days beneath the shade of your protection—

By God, what a life! How sweet it was, how wholesome!

إلى أن دهانا الدهر يوما بجده

بعادات بين ما أحدّ وما أفرى

Until Time struck us one day with its severity,

With habits of separation—how sharp they are, how cutting!

ففرقنا جمعا وكدّر صفونا

وجوّعنا جوعا فقدنا له الصبرا

It scattered our gathering and muddied our serenity,

And starved us with a hunger for which we have lost all patience.

فإن شئت فلتبرا لعلك مدركي

وإلا فإن الجوع قد هيّأ القبرا

So if you will, grant relief; perhaps you may yet rescue me,

Otherwise, hunger has already prepared the grave.

بهذا أشار الناصحون لعلكم

ترقّون أو تأتي لنا منكم البشرى

With this the counselors have advised, hoping that you

Might show compassion, or that good tidings from you might come to us.