يَطوفُ العُفاةُ بِأَبوابِهِ

كَطَوفِ الحَجيجِ بِبَيتِ الحَرَم

The barefoot ones circle around his doors

Like the circling of pilgrims around the Sacred House

أَبى طَلَلٌ بِالجِزعِ أَن يَتَكَلَّما

وَماذا عَلَيهِ لَو أَجابَ مُتَيَّما

Talal refused to speak out of sadness

Why should he care if he were to answer gloomily?

وَبِالفِرعِ آثارٌ بَقينَ وَباللِوى

مَلاعِبُ لا يُعرَفنَ إِلاّ تَوَهُّما

And on the branch are traces that remain

Games that cannot be known except in imagination

إِذا ما غَضِبنا غَضبَةً مُضَرِيَّةً

هَتَكنا حِجابَ الشَمسِ أَو تُمطِرَ الدَما

When we get angry with a hurtful anger

We tear away the veil of the sun or rain blood

إِذا ما أَعَرنا سَيِّداً مِن قَبيلَةٍ

ذُرى مِنبَرٍ صَلّى عَلَينا وَسَلَّما

Whenever we honor a chief of a tribe

A progeny of a pulpit who prayed for us and bid farewell

وَإِنّا لَقَومٌ ما تَزالُ جِيادُنا

تُساوِرُ مَلكاً أَو تُناهِبُ مَغنَما

We are a people whose steeds still

Accompany a king or seize war booty

خَلَقنا سَماءً فَوقَنا بِنُجومِها

سُيوفاً وَنَقعاً يَقبِضُ الطَرفَ أَقنَما

We created a sky above us with its stars

Swords and spears that make the glance close painfully

وَمَحبِسِ يَومٍ جَرَّتِ الحَربُ ضَنكَهُ

دَنا ظِلُّهُ وَاِحمَرَّ حَتّى تَحَمَّما

And the prison of a day whose hardship the war dragged out

Its shadow drew near and reddened until it took on heat

تَفَوَّقتُ أَخلافَ الصِبا وَتَقَدَّمَت

هُمومِيَ حَتّى لَم أَجِد مُتَقَدَّما

I surpassed the progeny of youth and my worries advanced

Until I could find no one more advanced

فَهَذا أَوانَ اِستَحيَتِ النَفسُ وَاِرعَوى

لِداتي وَراجَعتُ الَّذي كانَ أَقوَما

So this is the time when the soul felt shame and trembled

For my audacity, and I returned to what was more upright

وَيَومٍ كَتَنّورِ الإِماءِ سَجَرنَهُ

وَأَوقَدنَ فيهِ الجَزلَ حَتّى تَضَرَّما

And a day like the oven of slave girls they kindled

And in it they lit the embers until it reddened

رَمَيتُ بِنَفسي في أَجيجِ سَمومِهِ

وَبِالعيسِ حَتّى بَضَّ مِنخَرُها دَما

I flung myself into the tumult of its poisons

And with the molten iron until its vein burst blood