أجاعنيَ القاضي السعيدُ ولم أكن

بأوّل ضيف في مغانيه جائعِ

The happy judge starved me, though I was not

The first guest made hungry by his feasts,

أقمتُ لديه ليلةً نابغيةً

عزيز كرى الأجفانَ حزن المضاجع

I spent there a long wakeful night

Dear to weeping eyes, sad to eyelids.

وما من قرى غير الزّلال بربعه

وذاك قرى من بات ضيفَ الضّفادع

In his land no villages but those of shade,

Villages of him who slept a guest of frogs.