1. كَأَنَّما دُنياكَ وَحشِيَّةٌ

    نَظَرَت في آثارِ أَظلافِها

    It is as though your world were a wild beast

    that looked at the tracks of her cloven hooves.

  2. ما بَقِيَ الواحِدُ مِن أَلفِها

    بَل هُوَ مِن سِتَّةِ آلافِها

    Not one of her thousand remains—

    nay, not one of her six thousand.

  3. تَطلُبُ أَريَّ النَحلِ مِن خِلفِها

    وَذائِبُ السَمِّ بِأَخلافِها

    You seek the bees’ honey from her teat,

    yet liquid poison lies in her teats.

  4. إِن أَخلَفَتكَ اليَومَ مَوعِدَها

    فَعُرفُها جارٍ بِإِخلافِها

    If today she breaks her promise to you,

    then breaking promises is her customary course.

  5. حَلَفتُ ما حالَفَها عاقِلٌ

    وَشَأنُها الغَدرُ بِأَحلافِها

    I have sworn: no wise man has allied himself with her,

    and her way is treachery toward her allies.

  6. أَتلِف إِذا أَعطَتك أَعراضَها

    فَإِنَّها رَهنٌ بِإِتلافِها

    Squander her worldly goods when she gives them to you,

    for they are pledged to destruction.

  7. تِلكَ عَجوزٌ أَلَّفَت شَرَّها

    قَبلَ بَني فِهرٍ وَإيلافِها

    That is a crone who fashioned her evil

    before the sons of Fihr and their pacts.