تَخَيَّلْ مَجَاعَةً

Imagine a famine,

حَيْثُ تُحَاصَرُ أَنْتَ وَأَقَارِبُكَ دَاخِلَ حِصَارٍ مُطْبَقٍ

where you and your relatives are trapped inside a tight siege,

بَيْنَمَا النَّاسُ فِي الْخَارِجِ لَا يُعَانُونَ مِثْلَ هَذَا الْبَلَاءِ

while the people outside do not suffer from such an affliction.

الْأَطْفَالُ الرُّضَّعُ يَبْكُونَ مِنَ الْجُوعِ

Infants are crying from hunger,

وَالأُمَّهَاتُ فِي أَلَمٍ عَمِيقٍ

and mothers are in deep pain,

لِأَنَّهُنَّ لَا يَسْتَطِعْنَ تَهْدِئَتَهُمْ

because they cannot calm them.

لَا يَجِدُونَ شَيْئًا يُطْعِمُونَ بِهِ أَنْفُسَهُمْ

They find nothing with which to feed themselves,

أَوْ يُطْعِمُونَ حَتَّى أَطْفَالَهُمْ

or even feed their children.

أَيْنَمَا نَظَرْتَ، رَأَيْتَ النَّاسَ مُنْهَكِينَ

Wherever you look, you see people exhausted.

وَلِكَيْ تَبْقَى عَلَى قَيْدِ الْحَيَاةِ لَا يُوجَدُ مَا تَأْكُلُهُ إِلَّا أَحَدُ أَمْرَيْنِ:

And in order to stay alive, there is nothing to eat except one of two things: