وَحَيٍّ أَناخوا في المَنازِلِ بِاللِوى

فَصاروا بِهِ بَعدَ القَطينِ قَطينا

In places they pitched their tents, clustering together,

And so after some time, they became two communities.

إِذا اِختَلَفوا في الدارِ ظَلَّت كَأَنَّها

تُبَدِّدُ فيها الريحُ بَرزَ قُطونا

When they differed in the abode, it was as if

The wind scattered tatters of cloth about in it.

إِذا طَرَقوا قَدري مَعَ اللَيلِ أَصبَحَت

بَواطِنُها مِثلَ الظَواهِرِ جونا

If they knocked at my pot by night, in the morning

Its inside became like its outside, ink.

لَهُم نَظرَةُ يُمنى وَيُسرى إِذا مَشَوا

كَما مَرَّ مَرعوبٌ يَخافُ كَمينا

They have a glance to right and left when they walk

Like a frightened fugitive dreading an ambush.

وَيَمشونَ صَفّاً في الدِيارِ كَأَنَّما

يَجُرّونَ خَيطاً في التُرابِ مَنينا

And they walk in single file in the abodes as though

They were dragging a rope in the dust, extended.

فَفي كُلِّ بَيتٍ مِن بُيوتِيَ قَرِيَةٍ

تَضُمُّ صُنوفاً مِنهُمُ وَفُنونا

So in each house of my village houses

Are sorts and kinds of them, diverse.

فَيا مَن رَأى بَيتاً يَضيقُ بِخَمسَةٍ

وَفيهِ قُرَيّاتٍ يَسَعنَ مِئينا

Oh, he who has seen a house straitened by five

While villages could contain two hundred!