يآل عُبادٍ دَعوَةٌ بَعدَ هَجمَةٍ

فهل منكُمُ من قوة وزمَاعِ

O household of ʿUbād—a call after an onslaught!

Is there among you any strength, any firm resolve,

فتسعوا لجارٍ حَلّ وَسط بيوتكم

غريب وجارات تُركنَ جياعِ

that you might hasten to a neighbor lodged amid your homes—

a stranger—and to women neighbors left hungry?

وما كانت الأجواف منّي مُحَيَّةً

وساكنها من غُدَّة وأَفاعي

Nor had those bellies been kept alive by me,

nor what dwelt within them: a swelling and vipers—

طَحُون كمُلقى مِبرَدِ القين فَعمَةٌ

بجرعَاء مِلحٍ أو بجَوِّ نطاعِ

grinding, thick-bodied, like a smith’s file lying cast down

on a sandy salt-flat, or in a hollow of hides.