كَأَنَّما الملقيُّ في علكها

كَأَنَّما الملقيُّ في علكها

مِن خُصلِ اللحيةِ مِن زبدِ

مِن خُصلِ اللحيةِ مِن زبدِ

As though what is cast into its gum

As if the chewed-up morsel in her saliva

from the beard's tufts were made of froth.

Was a tangled clump from his matted beard,

يقيد عثنونه

يقيد عثنونه

مِن وَسَخٍ فيهِ بِلا قَيدِ

مِن وَسَخٍ فيهِ بِلا قَيدِ

His beard ensnares

Binding his filth with no restraint -

with the filth in it, without a fetter.

No thought occurs to the bird in flight

ما يَخطُرُ الطائرُ في جَوِّهِ

ما يَخطُرُ الطائرُ في جَوِّهِ

إِلا هوى فيها مِن الهيدِ

إِلا هوى فيها مِن الهيدِ

The bird never flits through its sky

Except to plunge within it headlong.

without falling into it from fright.

So while the bird persists aloft

فَبَينَما الحائنُ في جَوِّهِ

فَبَينَما الحائنُ في جَوِّهِ

مُمتَنِعاً إِذ صارَ في الأَيدي

مُمتَنِعاً إِذ صارَ في الأَيدي

So while the doomed bird was in its sky,

Thinking itself beyond capture, it is netted.

beyond reach—suddenly it was in people's hands.