قولا لِإِخواني أَرى وُدَّكُم

أَودَت بِهِ عَقارِبٌ تَسري

Say to my brothers: I see that your affection

Has been destroyed by creeping scorpions.

وَعادَ ما عاوَدتُ مِن وَصلِكُم

عِندي وَبالاً آخِرَ الدَهرِ

And the bond I sought to restore with you

Has returned to me as a curse for all time.

وَصِرتُ وَالأَمثالُ مَضروبَةٌ

في بَعضِ ما يُؤثَرُ في الشِعرِ

I have become—as proverbs are struck

In the tales transmitted through verse—

كَالأَمَةِ الوَرهاءِ لا مائَها

أَبقَت وَلا أَبقَت أَذى البَطَرِ

Like the clumsy maid: neither her water did she save,

Nor did she spare the harm of her folly.