1. لي جَدَّةٌ تَرأَفُ بي

    أَحنى عَلَيَّ مِن أَبي

    I have a grandmother who is kind to me,

    more tender toward me than my father.

  2. وَكُلُّ شَيءٍ سَرَّني

    تَذهَبُ فيهِ مَذهَبي

    And whatever brings me joy,

    she shares my view of it.

  3. إِن غَضِبَ الأَهلُ عَلَـ

    ـيَ كُلُّهُم لَم تَغضَبِ

    If the family grew angry with

    me—all of them—she would not.

  4. مَشى أَبي يَوماً إِلَـ

    ـيَ مِشيَةَ المُؤَدِّبِ

    One day my father walked toward

    me, with a disciplinarian's gait,

  5. غَضبانَ قَد هَدَّدَ بِالضَر

    بِ وَإِن لَم يَضرِبِ

    angry; he had threatened a beating,

    though he did not strike.

  6. فَلَم أَجِد لِيَ مِنهُ غَيـ

    ـرَ جَدَّتي مِن مَهرَبِ

    So I found, to escape him, none but

    my grandmother as a refuge.

  7. فَجَعَلتني خَلفَها

    أَنجو بِها وَأَختَبي

    So she put me behind her;

    I found safety with her and hid,

  8. وَهيَ تَقولُ لِأَبي

    بِلَهجَةِ المُؤَنِّبِ

    while she said to my father,

    in a reproachful tone:

  9. وَيحٌ لَهُ وَيحٌ لِهَـ

    ـذا الوَلدِ المُعَذَّبِ

    "Alas for him! Alas for this

    tormented boy!

  10. أَلَم تَكُن تَصنَعُ ما

    يَصنَعُ إِذا أَنتَ صَبي

    Did you not use to do what

    he does, when you were a boy?"