1. ذمم تباع وتشترى

    تعرى وتنبذ بالعرا

    Consciences are sold and bought.

    They are stripped bare and cast out into the open.

  2. وتصيدها الاهوا وك

    ل الصيد في جوف الفرا

    And passions hunt them down; and all

    the game is in the wild ass's belly.

  3. عشواء تخبط في الظلا

    م فلا تراك ولا ترى

    Blind, they flounder in the darkness,

    so they neither see you nor see at all.

  4. وسعت ولكن أخفقت

    وخطت ولكن للورا

    And they strove, but failed;

    and stepped, but backward;

  5. ورمت ولكن نفسها

    حتى اعتراها ما اعترى

    and shot, but at themselves,

    until what befell them befell them.

  6. خرجت ولكن صورة

    شوهاء ما بين الورى

    They emerged, but as a form

    misshapen among humankind.

  7. تدعو ولا من سامع

    وكذاك شأن المزدرى

    They call, but no one listens;

    and such is the lot of the despised.

  8. ترجو اللحاق بمحرز

    سبقا وتمشي القهقري

    They hope to catch up with one who has gained

    a lead, yet they walk backward.

  9. والبون بينهما كما

    بين الثريا والثرى

    And the gulf between the two is like that

    between the Pleiades and the earth.