1. Let whoever wishes to rejoice, rejoice
As for me, I shall not dance to their tune

2. I know the times to be fraught with harm
So I draw ever closer to fear of it

3. And this novelty, its father is antiquity
A snake does not give birth to a rabbit

4. I see the universe looking at it mockingly
Like one who saw a guiding star in their wilderness

5. Had people known what it concealed
They would have turned to God before nightfall

6. Had the feast known what they concealed
It would have refused to tear off its festive garb

7. Do not be fooled by their ululations
And their cries of "welcome" to you

8. They have dressed you up only to strip you bare
As a foot strips off its sock

9. Betrayal is innate to their nature
So let whoever was not a traitor, beware

10. And though there be a stalwart whose words
Shook me: "I am your faithful, chosen friend"

11. His form is that of a hyena
While his soul is that of a cunning fox

12. That riffraff keep his company against their will
As the moon keeps the clouds' company

13. He sees me as the only devout one
While I am among the beasts

14. And I revel in a prosperous land
Thinking myself settled like the lark

15. While my boon companion, the dove, coos
"How so, when it is teeming with serpents?"

16. I have grown accustomed to worries, else
I would have tried to avoid getting riled

17. It is as though mountains weigh on my shoulders
While my joy is in growing angry

18. How can my exiled brother find comfort
When his worries accompany him like a scorpion?

19. I blame fate, if only I could
Protect my heart from blaming

20. I found you with grey hair at my temples
While the days of your youth bid farewell

21. So my tears now are no ordinary tears
But for my lost youth they flow

22. Oh, the coming of the years brings joy!
The years come only to pass away

23. Wondrous is my greying before my time
More wondrous that I see no grey hair

24. For the trials I have weathered
Would turn a lad of ten feeble

25. And you, daughter of Columbus, why do you laugh
As though you saw something outrageous?

26. Is not this whiteness you despise
What makes your gap-toothed smile beloved?

27. Whoever hates its radiance
I hate that he should dye his hair

28. I love you, oh enlightened one
Even if you be the shaggiest of the Berbers

29. And for your sake I love the flash of lightning
O most ardent lover of the hills

30. Oh new year, have you come prohibited
That we should hope, or belligerent?

31. Your brother has turned his back and provoked it
With the feeblest of weapons: gazelles

32. On it the quintessential Thursday fights the quintessential Thursday
And peak contends with peak

33. When the gaze rises in its atmosphere
It sees lightning flashes from its clouds

34. With rumbling and fiery rain
Pounding the lofty peaks

35. The troops advance borne by it
To swiftly fulfil their mission

36. The youth wishes he could flee
But fear prevents his flight

37. How to survive when its missiles
Reach from far east to distant west?

38. Even if he took cover in the clouds
The clouds would not be safe from it

39. It wipes out everything, so if only
Its havoc brought dead land to life

40. What use the catapult and its rocks
Or the fleets of planes dropping bombs?

41. When the earth complains of the heat of the battle
The sky waters it with torrential rain

42. Oh for these wars and their horrors!
Is it not time, people, to be abashed?

43. Death comes to you despite yourselves
So cast aside your guns and sticks

44. To the Creator belongs all rule
Do not follow among yourselves divergent paths

45. Nor have I forgotten the fall of your Titanic
And our fall the day grapes turned to ash

46. So terrible was the horror in its truthfulness
We hoped lightning would prove it lied

47. Nights we find no comfort in sleep
No cool water to quench our thirst

48. My heart shattered and the wound stays open
I lie awake fearing it will heal

49. My weeping eyes are drowned like the sea
Leaping in the waters weeping

50. When I remember it, I am shaken
Amidst tears, I fear I will collapse

51. I lay my head down but find no rest
Amidst tears, I fear I will collapse

52. Ordeals the world has seen its like
Therefore I dread they be recorded

53. The East has endured its share of setbacks
And tried to trip the West

54. Most wretched are the souls of Adam's children
To please generals and corporals

55. If it could come between dawn and dusk
Dawn would battle dusk

56. Perhaps you may erase its crimes
And we'll forget, thanks to you, the sin

57. If you cannot be eternal
Then live on in us as a virtuous legacy

58. For in your footsteps, you leave
One who walks your path, be it of thorns or dunes