أَعجِب لِظُلمِ زَمانِنا المُتَواتِرِ

وَلِأَوَّلٍ مِمّا يُريكَ وَآخِرِ

I'm amazed at the recurring injustice of our time,

Both the first of what you're shown and the last.

تَاللَهِ أوخَذُ بِالخَراجِ وَضَيعَتي

لَحمٌ يُطَرَّحُ في مَخالِبِ طائِرِ

By Allah, they seized my land tax and ruined me,

Flesh thrown to the claws of a vulture.

وَيُغِلُّها قَومٌ وَأُعطي خَرجَها

حُكمٌ لَعَمرِكَ غَيرُ عَدلٍ ظاهِرِ

And people extort it, though I pay its tax,

A rule, by your life, with no justice apparent.

صَلّى الإِلَهُ عَلى سَدومَ فَلَم يَكُن

في جَنبِ قِصَّتِنا سَدومُ بِجائِرِ

God pray upon Sodom, yet it was not

In comparison to our story, unjust.

أَبلِغ أَبا العَبّاسِ حَيثُ أَحَلَّ مَن

حَلَبٍ مَكانَ الغَيثِ فينا الماطِرِ

Tell Al-‘Abbas where he has settled after

Halab, the place of rain for us, the pouring.

أَتَجورُ عَن نَظَرٍ لَنا مِن بَعدِ ما

سُمّيتَ مِن نَظَرٍ لَنا بِالناظِرِ

Do you deny us any care, after you were named

The one caring for us by care itself?

وَمَنَعتَني الإِنصافَ مِنكَ وَلَم تَكُن

تَأباهُ في بَرٍّ وَلا في فاجِرِ

And you denied me justice, yet you weren’t

One to refuse rightness, nor corruptness.