أكلتُ رغيفاً عندَ عيسى فملَّني

وكان كهمِّي من محبٍّ مُقَرَّبِ

I ate a loaf at Jesus’s place, and it filled me

Though it was like my worry from a beloved friend

رآني قليلَ الخوف من لحظاته

وذلك من شأني لهُ غيرُ مُعجبُ

He saw me, little afraid of his glances

And that is my way with him, unimpressed

يُريدُ أَكيلاً رُزْؤهُ من طعامه

كرُزءِ كتابٍ من تراب مُتَرِّبِ

He wants a glutton whose appetite is sated by his food

Like the crumbs of a book from dusty soil

إذا لَحِظتهُ عينُهُ عند مَضْغِهِ

طوى الأُنسَ طيَّ الخائف المترقبِ

When his eye gazes at me while he chews

He folds up companionship like a watchful frightened one

يُحبُّ الخميصَ البطن من أكلائه

ويُضحي ويُمسي بطنهُ بطنَ مقرِب

He loves a potbelly on those he feeds

And spends his days and nights with a familiar potbelly

وما أُنسُ ذي أُنسٍ لعيسى بمؤنسٍ

ولا وَقْعُ أضراسِ الأكيل بمُطربِ

And Jesus feels no companionship with a companion

Nor the clatter of the glutton’s teeth with one who celebrates merrily

تزَوَّدْ إذا آكلتَهُ فهي أكلةٌ

وما أختُها إلا كعنقاءِ مُغْربِ

If you eat at his place, provision yourself, for it is but one meal

And nothing else, like a lone gazelle in the sunset