أَنا مَملوكٌ لِمالِكَةٍ

قَلبَها أَقسى مِنَ الحَجَرِ

I am a bondsman to a lady who owns me;

her heart is harder than stone.

تَفزَعُ الشَكوى بِحَوزَتِها

لِلَّذي تَلقى مِنَ الضَجَرِ

Even complaint quails in her presence

at what it encounters from the stone.

فَإِذا ما جِئتُ أَهرُبُ لَم

يَتَّفِق لي زادُ مُصطَبِرِ

Yet whenever I come to flee, I cannot

find the provisions of one who can endure.