لكنَّ دون الخُبز في دارهِ

وقائعَ الدَّيلَمِ والتُّركِ

Yet without bread in his house

The happenings of the poor and destitute

رغيفُه اليابسُ في جيبهِ

كأنّه نافِجةُ المِسكِ

His dry loaf in his pocket

As though it were musk incense

يرى صيامَ الضيفِ في بيتهِ

نُسكا ومَن يزهد في النسكِ

He sees the fasting of a guest in his home

As devotion, and who disdains devotion?

وصَونه اللُّقمةَ ديِناً له

وبذله شِركا من الشركِ

He safeguards the morsel as his religion

And to share it is polytheism to him

يَوَدُّ من خِسَّتهِ أنّه

أمسى بلا ضرسٍ ولا فَكِّ

He wishes in his meagerness that he

Would spend the night toothless and jawless