The poem characterizes the separation of a wife and mother--a slave--from her family: Translation of C.J. Lyall.
They said last night--To-morrow at first of dawning,
or maybe at eventide, must Laila go!--
My heart at the word lay helpless, as lies a Katä
in net night-long, and struggles with fast-bound wing.
Two nestlings she left alone, in a nest far distant,
a nest which the winds smite, tossing it to and fro.
They hear but the whistling breeze, and stretch necks to greet her;
but she they await--the end of her days is come!
So lies she, and neither gains in the night her longing,