لِمَن سَواقِطُ صِبيانٍ مُنَبَّذَةٍ

باتَت تَفَحَّصُ في بَطحاءِ أَجيادِ

For whom are the stray toys of castaway boys

Left to roam the wild plains where the horses graze?

باتَت تَمَخَّضُ ما كانَت قَوابِلُها

إِلّا الوُحوشَ وَإِلّا جِنَّةَ الوادي

Left to birth whatever their birth-givers may be -

Just beasts and valley sprites are their midwives.

فيهِم صَبِيٌّ لَهُ أُمٌّ لَها نَسَبٌ

في ذُروَةٍ مِن ذُرى الأَحسابِ أُبّادِ

One boy has a mother of noble descent -

At the peak of a noble and ancient line,

تَقولُ وَهناً وَقَد جَدَّ المَخاضُ بِها

يا لَيتَني كُنتُ أَرعى الشَولَ لِلغادي

Crying weakly as labor pains rack her frame:

"Would I herded the mountain goats passing by!"

قَد غادَروهُ لِحُرِّ الوَجهِ مُنعَفِراً

وَخالُها وَأَبوها سَيِّدُ النادي

They left him there, lips cracked from the sun's hot blaze,

Though his uncle and father are lords of the tribe.