أآمِدُ هَل ألَمَّ بكِ النهارُ

قَديماً أو أُثيرَ بكِ الغُبارُ

O Amid, has the clear day ever dawned upon you?

Or has the dust been stirred within you since ancient times?

إذا ما الأرضُ كانت فيكِ ماءً

فأين بها لغرقاكِ القرارُ

If the very earth within you were turned to water,

Where, then, would your drowned ones find a resting place?

تغَضَّبَتِ الشموسُ بها علينا

وماجَت فوقَ أرؤسِنا البحارُ

Therein the suns glared down upon us in wrath,

While oceans surged and crashed above our heads.

حنينَ البُختِ وَدَّعَها حجيجٌ

كأنَّ خيامَنا لهمُ جمارُ

Like the moaning of camels when pilgrims bid farewell,

As though our tents were the stones they cast in the rite.

فلا حيّا الإلهُ ديارَ بكرٍ

ولا روَّت مزارِعَها القِطارُ

So may God never grant greeting to the dwellings of Bakr,

Nor may the pouring rains ever quench its fields.

بلادٌ لا سمينٌ من رعاها

ولا حسَنٌ بأهليها اليسارُ

A land where the grazer finds no sustenance to thrive,

And where wealth bestows no grace upon its people.

إذا لُبِسَ الدروعُ ليومِ بُؤس

فأحسَنُ ما لَبِستَ بها الفرارُ

If coats of mail are donned for a day of wretched war,

The finest garb you can wear within it is flight.