رَأَيتُكَ بصّاصَ الثِيابِ مُزَوِّقاً

فَقُلتُ لِنَفسي قَد وَجَدتُ فَتىً حُرّا

I saw you with tattered clothes,

So I said to myself, I have found a free man.

فَجِئتُكَ وَالأَطماعُ تَجذِبُ مِقَودي

لِأَمرٍ فَما أَنجَزتَ لي ذَلِكَ الأَمرا

I came to you with high hopes pulling me,

For something, yet you did not accomplish that for me.

فَكُنتُ كَأَنّي مُمحِلٌ شامَ بارِقاً

فَلَم يَرَ مَرقاهُ لِخُلَّبِهِ قَطرا

So I was like one carrying an empty waterskin,

Its drippings were not seen from its wetness.

وَإِلّا كَظامٍ طافَ رائِدُ لَحظِهِ

إِلى أَن رَأى آلاً فَقَدَّرَهُ بَحرا

Or like one wandering, following his hopes,

Until he saw mirages which he imagined as a sea.

فَما زالَ يَقفوهُ وَيَزدادُ ما بِهِ

إِلى أَن غَدَت تِلكَ الفَلاةُ لَهُ قَبرا

So he continued to follow it and his condition worsened,

Until that wilderness became for him a grave.