إذا رماك الدهرُ في بلدةٍ

وأهلُها يَعْدونَ في غيِّهمْ

If fate has thrown you in a town

Whose people, in their blindness, roam

وخِلتَهم كالآل في مهمهٍ

يلوح ماءُ المكر في ريِّهمْ

And if their kin you find therein

Like tools that serve a useless end

وآلة التعريف في عُرفِهم

كآلة التنكير في أيِّهمْ

Their means of knowing and unknowing

Both faulty paths to comprehend

ويسألونَ الجرحَ عن كيِّه

تجاهلاً والجرحُ من كيِّهمْ

If they would question of your grief

With ignorance, as if its source transcends

ويرتدون الحب من ظاهرٍ

ويُبطنون الغش في طيِّهمْ

If love, they'd only show outside

While hiding malice they intend

ويُدغمون الحقَّ في باطلٍ

ويسألون الميْتَ عن حيِّهمْ

If right and wrong they'd integrate

And question of the dead as if it ends

فدارِهم مادمت في دارهم

وحَيِّهم ما دمت في حيِّهمْ

In their abode, while still inside

And in their lives, while breath extends