يُقَيِّضُ لِلمَكتوبِ ما جَرَّ حَتفُهُ

فَجازَ بِنا في الغَيضِ شَرَّ مَجازِ

He appoints for the fated one the very thing that brings about his death;

then through the thicket he passed by us—the worst of passages.

بَعَثنا إِلَيهِ مِنسَرَ البازِ فَاِنثَنى

إِلَينا بَظَهرٍ مِثلَ جُؤجُؤِ بازِ

We sent the falcon’s beak after him, and it wheeled back

to us, bearing a back like a falcon’s breast.

فَأَطفَأَ نيرانَ الطُهاةِ كَأَنَّها

سَحابٌ يَسُحُّ الوَدقَ فَوقَ عِزازِ

And it quenched the cooks’ fires, as though they were

a cloud pouring rain over hard ground.