بَكيتُ إِلى سربِ القَطا إِذ مَرَرنَ بي

سَوارِحَ لا سِجنٌ يَعوقُ وَلا كبلُ

I wept to a flock of wild cats as they passed by me,

Unfettered hawks, no prison confines them, no shackles.

وَلَم تَكُ وَاللَهُ المعيذُ حسادَةً

وَلَكِن حَنيناً إِنّ شَكلي لَها شَكلُ

By Allah, it was not out of envy,

But out of yearning - for their shape is like mine.

فاِسرح فَلا شملي صَديعٌ ولا الحَشا

وَجيعٌ وَلا عَينايَ يُبكيهِما ثَكلُ

So fly away, neither my body impaired nor my soul,

Neither sick nor my eyes weeping their bereavement.

هَنيئاً لَها أَن لَم يُفَرِّق جَميعُها

ولا ذاقَ مِنها البُعدَ عَن أَهلِها أَهلُ

Happy are they that none of them are separated,

That none among them tasted the remoteness from their folk.

وَأَن لَم تَبِت مِثلي تَطيرُ قُلوبُها

إِذا اهتَزَّ بابُ السجنِ أَو صلصلَ القفلُ

That they do not, like me, spend the night with their hearts fluttering,

Whenever the prison door creaks or the lock rattles.

وَما ذاكَ مِمّا يَعتَريني وَإِنَّما

وَصَفتُ الَّذي في جِبلَةِ الخَلق مِن قَبلُ

This is not what actually befalls me, but

I described what was inborn in creation from the first.

لِنَفسي إِلى لُقيا الحِمامِ تَشوُّفٌ

سِوايَ يُحِبُّ العَيشَ في ساقِهِ كَبلُ

For my soul, yearning to meet the doves,

Nothing equals me in loving to live free of fetters.

أَلا عَصَمَ اللَهُ القَطا في فِراخِها

فَإِنَّ فِراخي خانَها الماءُ وَالظِلُّ

Oh, may Allah protect the wild cats and their young!

For my young deserted me, failed by food and shade.