قَدَمِي لا عِشتِ لي مِن قَدَمِ

ورَمَاكِ اللهُ بِالبَترِ المُشِين

My feet, you have lived no life for me,

And may God afflict you with the worst paralysis,

وعَلَى سَاقِكِ لا دارَ سِوى

أرقم يَلدغ حيناً بَعدَ حِين

And upon your legs, you have no home but

A snake that stings now and then,

وَأرَاني اللهُ مِن إثرِ السِّيَا

طِ عَلى جِلدِكِ ألاَفَ المئِينِ

And may God show me your tracks

Stamped on your skin thousands of times,

أنتِ يَا مُورِثَتِي ذُلا بِهِ

صَارَ قَلبي بَينَ شَكوى وَأَنِينِ

You, my inheritor of humiliation through which

My heart has become between complaining and moaning,

مَا الَّذِي ألزَمَكِ المَشىَ إلَى

مَنزِلٍ بِالبَابِ مِنهُ تقِفينِ

What has compelled you to walk to

A house whose door you stand at,

ويَردُّ البابَ عَبدٌ أسوَدٌ

عَنك فِي قَسوَتِهِ لَيس يَلينِ

And a black servant turns the door

Away from you in his harshness that has no softness,

وَغُرابُ اللَّيلِ فِي تَهوِيمِهِ

وَسُيولُ القَطرِ تَجري بِعُيُونِ

And the raven of the night in its squawking,

And the streams of rain flowing with force,

سَاعةٌ مَرَّت وأُخرى مِثلُها

ليسَ مَن يَرثي لِذِي قَلبٍ حَزِينِ

An hour has passed and another like it

With no one to console a sad-hearted one,

لاَ تَقُولِي لِي فَإنَّي عَالِمٌ

يَستَحِقُّ القتلَ ذو القلبِ الحَنُونِ

Do not say to me for I know

He who has a compassionate heart deserves to be killed