1. I stood by the sea of Algiers one night
And confided in it, as if the sea could hear me

2. I said: O sea, why are you raging
Against the land, angered, though the land is blameless

3. Why do you not calm your surging and turmoil
And lashing with the hands of waves that smooth the rock

4. Perhaps you are angry with it because
It is very content with misfortunes, enduring them with patience

5. You say: Why does the land remain, bearing
Burdens upon it, unaffected by rebuke

6. Misfortunes keep occurring and transgressing upon it
One after another, with no prohibition or command

7. And the wrongdoers spread in its folds
Matters that make the lawful blush

8. And people's efforts go in it to extremes
For each son of womankind among them, his affair is above him

9. Like a flock of sheep that missed the pen
Wandering equally in purpose and in dusty weather

10. And they commit upon it despicable deeds
Violating, in doing them, a grievous sin

11. Like their trading in deceit, lies, and usury
And what was not lawful for them to trade

12. And their planting of tobacco, which harms them
And their pressing of vines, which intoxicates them

13. Yet it expands for them in all that its breadth
And showers upon them bounty and kindness

14. More wondrous than this and that is that it
Prepared for their livelihood and became their graves when dead

15. Slow down, O sea, you have reproached its face
So be gentle with it, for which you have thanks

16. It is as if the land came to you extending
Explanations, if only its excuses would reach your hearing

17. Calling you: O sea, be compassionate with the land
Merciful, perhaps the land is deluded by creation

18. It may have seen good for them, so led them
To that, and which good is devoid of evil?

19. For it is true that good continues flowing
Through its soil, even if it is little

20. And the call to knowledge has risen upon it today
Spread by a group of young people

21. They follow the Quran, for it guides them
And take pride in faith, for it enriches them

22. However, this land was not tranquil
Due to the ignorance in it, even if ignorance pervaded it

23. A loud cry of protest from it to creation
Repeated for listening, but with calmness and dignity

24. And a warner of evil in truth, blatant
Calling out to humankind that loss has prevailed

25. Events that require attention from the mind
Yet the mind is resistant to their call

26. And flounders in a sea of delusion, lost
Diving, and the sea of delusion has no bottom

27. So it remains between misery and despair, confused
Like one held by sorcery that has betrayed him

28. And refusing to believe the speech of inanimate things, it said to me
I was told a story never told by time before

29. It contradicts the consensus of creation, and maybe
It reached you from fanciful reason, fabricated

30. The land's motions are but collisions
With water and fire, from which come cold and heat

31. And the sea's motions are but surging
Upon its surface, ruled by ebb and flow

32. I acknowledged this to be true, and said to it: Scrutinize
Their outer forms with reason, the secret will become clear to you

33. And heed the tongue of the situation, lending your hearing,
For the tongue of the situation lacks loudness

34. There you will see what you have not seen before
And hear what the mind cannot express in words

35. Clear signs from the unseen differentiated
Upon existence, which no book compiled completely

36. Renewing through existence every instant
So what can vigilance and the pen encompass?

37. They confound tongues from spreading their wonders
To the nations of the world, but it is for them to spread

38. I refrain from delving into counting, returning
To God, overwhelmed, terror surrounding me

39. Behold! This universe is the truest witness
That the perfection of God has no limit