1. I sat while the heedless ones slept
Thinking of our past and future

2. And how the oppressors prevailed over us
They were unjust to the old and the young

3. So my eyelids remained sleepless
Feeling hell was in my bed

4. My heart felt squeezed by what it concealed
So my eyes let flow their tears

5. I remembered the wars and their afflictions
What the sword and cannon had done

6. How nations ravage their own selves
Though they held the highest rank

7. And dyed their flags with blood
While once condemning what they now do

8. So overnight what they built they destroyed
The citadels of knowledge and its secrets

9. Women sacrificing their children
To death though death has no mercy

10. And soldiers sacrificing themselves
To the land though it knows not

11. Birds awake feasting on corpses
For if thirsty, blood is their drink

12. And in every dwelling there is mourning
The tomorrow rending apart its garments

13. The wolf and the hyena are sated
Homes and lands lie barren

14. So one army destroys the other
And the finest kills the finest

15. The dead will not return to life
Nor the lost come back again

16. Evil is he who learned violence
And evil is he who fueled its fire

17. Is it so one man may live safely
While blood flows in rivers and thousands perish

18. And fathers raise their sons
Only for swords to reap them

19. Matters that baffle the critic
And sadden the heart of the wise

20. Oh when will we understand
The meanings and secrets of life

21. I turned my eyes to the east
But saw only mountains of clouds

22. Veiling its shining moon
As clouds gathered around my soul, too

23. So I rested my head on my elbow
And said, overwhelmed by worries

24. By your Lord o stars
When will war lay down its burdens

25. As birds are killed in paradise
And gazelles hunted in the meadows

26. So too my people are wronged
With no cause or fault

27. So Hittites are taken by force
And punished though innocent

28. How much will we yield and surrender
When the flood reached its peak

29. And the sheep were driven to slaughter
Their caves and men of refinement

30. Whoever did not die fighting
Was killed dishonorably by the sword

31. So wrongdoing stirred in them no anger
Nor did seeing blood stir wrath

32. People and stars have changed
Though their cycles remained the same

33. I see the lion defending his fury
With fangs and claws

34. And ants gather in their nest
Fearing betrayal from a neighbor

35. While the buzzard protects his nest
Pecking away threats with his beak

36. But neither the breakers nor the broken
Nor the sheep praises its butcher

37. I wonder at those who laugh and play
While welcomed by spears and swords

38. Spending nights upright and anxious
Herded to caves if they rebel

39. And those who applaud the oppressor
While their loved ones drink sorrow

40. When will the homeland stir the sleep
As birds recall their nests