قَد كنتُ أسمَعُ لكن خِلتُه مثَلاً

أنَّ اللّيالِي يَصِدْن الصّقرَ بالخَرَبِ

I used to hear, but now I take as an example,

That nights deter the falcon with decayed ruins,

وأن أَيدِيَها شَلّتْ ولا انبسطَت

إذا ضَربنَ كَسرْن النّبعَ بالغَرَبِ

And that their hands were paralyzed and did not stretch out,

When they struck, they broke the spring in the waste,

حتّى رأيتُ النّعامَ الرّبْدَ قد قَتَلَتَ

أُسْدَ العرينِ فيا لَلنّاسِ للعَجَبِ

Until I saw the ostriches that killed

The lion of the den, what a wonder for people,

كأَنَّ سقْبَ المنَايا وسْطَ جمعِهِمُ

رغَا فماتُوا جميعاً جيرةَ الصّقَبِ

As if the dome of deaths was roaring among them,

So they all died neighbors of the falcon,

لم تُغنِ نجدتُهُم إذ حانَ يَومُهُمُ

عنْهم ولم تَحمهم من سطوةِ النُّوَبِ

Their rescue did not avail them when their day came,

It did not protect them from the violence of affliction,

وَيْحَ الغَريبةِ والدّيارُ دِيارُها

لم تَرتَحِلْ عنها ولم تَتَغَرَّبِ

Alas for the stranger whose lands are her lands,

She did not depart from them and did not live abroad,

ماتت غريبةَ وِحدةٍ من تِرْبِها

وشقيقِها ومن العُمومةِ والأبِ

She died a stranger, lone, in her soil,

And from her brothers and cousins and father,

فهي الوحيدةُ والأقارِبُ حولَها

وهي البعيدةُ في المحَلِّ الأقربِ

She is the only one, and the relatives around her,

And she is the remote one in the closest place,

فإذا تضرَّمَ في الجوانِحِ ذكرُها

قال الأسَى باللهِ يا عينُ اسكُبِي

So when the memory of her smolders in the bosoms,

Sorrow said: By Allah O eye pour,