رَفَعتُ لَهُم صَوتَ المُنادي فَأَبصَروا
عَلى خَدِباتٍ في كَواهِلِهِم جُزلِ
I raised my voice to call them, and they saw
Upon their shoulders pieces of worn out garments.
وَلَولا حَياءٌ زِدتَ رَأسَكَ هَزمَةً
إِذا سُبِرَت ظَلَّت جَوانِبُها تَغلي
Had it not been for modesty, I would have shaken my head in defeat
When she bared her teeth, their edges boiled over.
بَعيدَةُ أَطرافِ الصُدوعِ كَأَنَّها
رَكِيَّةُ لُقمانَ الشَبيهَةُ بِالذَحلِ
Her distant tooth cracks looked like
The morsels of Luqman resembling a lizard.
إِذا نَظَرَ الآسونَ فيها تَقَلَّبَت
حَماليقُهُم مِن هَولِ أَنيابِها الثُعلِ
When the night prowlers looked into them, they tossed and turned;
Their anklets rattled in horror of her sharp canines.
إِذا ما رَأَتها الشَمسُ ظَلَّ طَبيبُها
كَمَن ماتَ حَتّى اللَيلِ مُختَلَسَ العَقلِ
When the sun saw them, the gleam of her teeth
Was like one who died before nightfall, robbed of his senses.
يَوَدَّ لَكَ الأَدنَونَ لَو مُتَّ قَبلَها
يَرَونَ بِها شَرّاً عَلَيكَ مِنَ القَتلِ
The foes wished you were dead before her;
They see in her great harm upon you, worse than murder.
تَرى في نَواحيها الفِراخَ كَأَنَّما
جَثَمنَ حَوالي أُمِّ أَربَعَةٍ طُحلِ
You see around her chicks as though they
Crouched around a mother of four, newly hatched.
شَرَنبَثَةٌ شَمطاءُ مَن يَرَ ما بِها
تُشِبهُ وَلَو بَينَ الخُماسِيُّ وَالطِفلِ
She is a thin, gray buzzard; whoever sees what's in her
Resembles, though he be fifty, a child.
إِذا ما سَقوها السَمنَ أَقبَلَ وَجهُها
بِعَينَي عَجوزٍ مِن عُرَينَةَ أَو عُكلِ
When they fed her fat, her face came
With the eyes of an old woman from Uraina or Ukal.
جُنادِفَةٍ سَجراءَ تَأخُذُ عَينُها
إِذا اِكتَحَلَت نِصفَ القَفيزِ مِنَ الكُحلِ
A scowling, saffron-dyed she-camel, her eye takes
Half a saucer of kohl when she uses makeup.
وَإِنّي لَمِن قَومٍ يَكونُ غَسولُهُم
قِرى فَأرَةِ الدارِيِّ تُضرَبُ في الغَسلِ
I am of a people whose ablutions require
The broth of a house rat - they wash with that!
فَما وَجَدَ الشافونَ مِثلَ دِمائِنا
شِفاءً وَلا الساقونَ مِن عَسَلِ النَحلِ
Soap has not found our blood
As curative as honey from bee hives.
