ترى الضيف بالصفراء تغسق عينه

ترى الضيف بالصفراء تغسق عينه

من الجوع حتى تحسب الضيف أرمدا

من الجوع حتى تحسب الضيف أرمدا

You see the guest at al-Ṣafrāʾ, his eye watering

The guest sees with jaundiced eyes

from hunger, until you think the guest has inflamed eyes.

Starved until you'd think the guest blind

بها كل تنبال كأن جبينه

بها كل تنبال كأن جبينه

قفاه اذا ما استنبح الضيف أخمدا

قفاه اذا ما استنبح الضيف أخمدا

Every squat fellow lives there, as though his forehead

With him each thin person like his forehead

were his nape; whenever the guest barks to rouse the dogs, he puts out the fire.

Is bowed when the guest speaks softly

قصير يد السربال لم يسر ليلة

قصير يد السربال لم يسر ليلة

لنهب ولم لنقل كالضيف مرفدا

لنهب ولم لنقل كالضيف مرفدا

Short of sleeve, he never traveled a single night

Short of sleeve the cloak did not spend a night

for plunder, nor, like the guest, to carry a serving bowl.

For plunder nor for giving like the subsidized guest

ولم يهد جيشاً نحو جيش ولم يقد

ولم يهد جيشاً نحو جيش ولم يقد

الى السلف الغادي نصاباً مفأدا

الى السلف الغادي نصاباً مفأدا

He never guided an army toward another army, nor led

And did not lead an army against an army and did not transmit

a branded herd to the advance party setting out in the morning.

To past ancestors a useful legacy