إِنّي وَجَدتُ أَباكَ إِذ أَتعَبتَهُ

عَبداً يَنوءُ بألأَمِ الأَنسابِ

I found your father wearied, when you wearied him,

A slave bending ‘neath the burden of ancestry and birth.

أَلفَيتُهُ لَمّا جَرى بِكَ شأوُنا

حَطِمَ اليَدَينِ مكَسَّرَ الأَصلابِ

I met him when our affair concerning you was stirred up:

With broken hands and smashed ribs.