بِشاةِ سَعيدٍ وَهيَ روحٌ بِلا جِسمِ

تَمَثَّلَتِ الأَمثالُ في شِدَّةِ السُقمِ

With Sa'id's sheep, which is a soul without a body,

Proverbs took form in the severity of sickness.

يَقولُ لي الإِخوانُ لَمّا طَبَختُها

أَتُطبَخُ شِطرَنجاً عِظاماً بِلا لَحمِ

When I cooked it, the brothers said to me,

"Do you cook a chess game - bones without meat?"

فَقُلتُ كُلوا مِنها فَقالوا تَجَمُّزاً

أَتُطعِمُنا ناووسَ قَومٍ مِنَ العُجمِ

I said, "Eat from it," but they recoiled in disgust,

"Do you feed us a peacock of a foreign people?"

فَقُلتُ لَهُم كانَت لَدَيهِم أَسيرَةً

تَرى القَتَّ في أَيدي العَدُوِّ وَفي الحُلمِ

I said to them, "They had a captive among them

Who saw slaughter in the hands of the enemy, even in dreams."

وَكَم قَد تَغَنَّت إِذ تَطاوَلَ جوعُها

وَلَم تَرَ عِندَ القَومِ شَيئاً مِنَ الطَعمِ

And how often she sang when her hunger intensified,

And saw nothing edible with the people.

أَلا أَيُّها الغَضبانُ بِاللَهِ ما جُرمي

إِلَيكَ فَقَد أَبلَيتَ لَحمي عَلى عَظمي

O angry one, by Allah I have no crime against you,

For you have wasted my flesh upon my bones.