Following closely one after another
Why do you soar through the sky, o cranes?
Like mournful, unwanted strangers you move.
To what land through the sky do you fly, o cranes?

One after another like rosary beads
You follow after the bird that leads.
But when each on his own looks for grain and seeds,
You stray farther apart than in the sky, o cranes!

Yet I know why you keep so close in flight:
With assassins and murderers you must fight,
Hawks and eagles are watching for you in the night,
In unequal battle you die, o cranes.

Baghdad and Basrah were the place of your birth.
For the beks your feathers were gifts of great worth.
When I hear you hooting as I stand on earth
For your plight my heart breaks well nigh, o cranes.

Come down, pay a visit to poor Vidadi,
Hear him sing his complaints to a sad melody.
Bring the men of Baghdad the tidings that he,
The sick Vidadi, will soon die, o cranes!

Translated by Dorian Rottenberg