ما كُنتُ أَحسَبُ أَنَّ الخُبزَ فاكَهِةً

حَتّى نَزَلَت عَلى أَوفى اِبنَ مَنصورِ

I did not think that bread was a fruit

I never thought that bread was reckoned fruit,

Until it landed on the most loyal son of Mansur

Until I lodged with Aufa ibn Mansour.

يَبِسُ اليَدَينِ فَما يَستَطيعُ بَسطَهُما

كَأَنَّ كَفَّيهِ شَدا بِالمَساميرِ

Whose hands were so stiff he could not stretch them

His hands are dry; he cannot spread them wide,

As if his palms were nailed with nails

As if his palms were fastened tight with nails.

عَهدي بِهِ آنِفاً في مَربَطٍ لَهُم

يَكسُ الروثَ عَن نَقرِ العَصافيرِ

Just earlier I saw him in a stable for them

I glimpsed him moments past within their stable,

Sweeping away the dung from the pecking of little birds

Shielding the dung against the sparrows' pecking.