يا لَيتني بِتُّ مقرِيَاً بِخَتْمِكُمُ

وَلَمْ أَبتْ مُقرِياً في الليلِ أضيافي

Would that I had spent the night as a reciter at your khatm—your completion ceremony—

and had not spent the night hosting my guests.

قَوْمٌ أتونيّ لا يَبغونَ غيرَ قِرى

جمعاً كبيراً بأفراسٍ وأسيافِ

A band came to me seeking nothing but hospitality,

a great throng, with horses and swords.

فَمِتُّ منْ خَجَلٍ مِنْهُمْ وَبِتُّ بِهمْ

حَيرانَ ما بينَ خبازٍ وَعَلاَّفِ

I died of shame before them and spent the night in their company,

bewildered between baker and fodder-seller.

وَعُدْتُ أُظهِرُ أَعذاراً مُلَفّقةً

وَفيهِمُ كُلُّ شَتّامٍ وَقَذِّافِ

I went on producing fabricated excuses,

while among them were revilers and slanderers of every kind.

وَقلتُ دونَكُمُ شَمَّ النّسيمِ على

هذا الفضاءِ وماءً بارداً صافي

I said, “Here—breathe the breeze across

this open space, and have cool, clear water.

ناموا إذا شِئتمُ أو فاسهروا لتَرَوا

أشجار حورٍ على خَورٍ وَصَفْصافِ

Sleep if you wish, or stay awake, so that you may see

such sights as poplars beside a creek, and willows.”

فقالَ لي مِنهُمُ شيخٌ أخو بَلَه

كأنَّ في وَجْههِ حانوتَ نَدّافِ

Then an old man among them, a brother to folly, said to me,

his face as though it housed a cotton-carder's shop:

يحتاجُ بيتُكُمُ والفارُ يَهْجُرُهُ

أشياءَ لا بُدَّ منها غيرَ كتّاف

“Your house, which even the mouse deserts, needs

indispensable things besides a porter.”

فَكانَ في منزلِي أَضعافُ ما ابتهلوا

منَ الدُّعاءِ لَكُم منْ سَب أسلافي

Then my house held many times as much

cursing of my forebears as all the prayers they offered you.