Claude 2

  1. يا رَبِّ أَشكو إِلَيكَ مِن نَفَرٍ

    وَفاهُمُ لي بِالغَدرِ مَمزوجُ

    O Lord, I complain to You of a gang

    Whose tongues for me are venomous stings.

  2. عَمَّ أَقاصي البِلادِ جَورُهُمُ

    كَأَنَّهُم في الفَسادِ ياجوجُ

    Their tyranny has encompassed lands;

    They are, vis-à-vis corruption, Gog and Magog.

  3. هُم داءُ قَلبي وَأَنتَ أَقدَرُ أَن

    إِمسي وَصَدري الحَرّانُ مَثلوجُ

    They are the plague of my heart while You are

    More able to assuage the flames that sear my breast.

  4. في كُلِّ عيدٍ لي مِنهُمُ طَبَقٌ

    فيهِ ذِراعا جَديٍ وَفَرّوجُ

    On every feast day they prepare for me

    A dish of my ancestors' shredded arms and legs,

  5. مَع رُغَفٍ أَشبَهَت وَجوهَهُمُ ال

    سودَ عَلَيها يُبسٌ وَتَكريجُ

    Along with loaves on which their faces resemble

    Black, faded, withered, wretched flatbreads.

  6. يَحمِلُهُ خادِمٌ لَهُم هَرِمٌ

    أَسوَدُ رَخوُ الساقَينِ مَفلوجُ

    These are brought in to me by a servant of theirs,

    An old, hunchbacked, bandylegged black man.

  7. أُقسِمُ لَو بِعتُهُ وَما مَعَهُ

    ما صَحَّ لي في الجَميعِ طَسّوجُ

    I swear, if I sold him and his crew

    I'd not fetch from the bunch one measly coin.