1. The people in Baghdad were not reassured
Except by shackles and chains

2. They surrendered to their oppressors after they
Stirred like the foaming sea

3. So they sinned against their ancestors in their graves
And sinned against their children and grandchildren

4. And there are those who are shedding tears of sorrow
And there are those who rejoice happily

5. What can I say to a backwards nation
That made its tragedies as celebrations

6. I never thought, oh playgrounds of my youth
That hopes in you would be lost

7. Until it seemed to me, and time is a teacher
That loved ones in Iraq have come back

8. That those who controlled through their deceit
Became pillars of power like pegs

9. Yet the rights of the innocent
Were swept away by storms of malice

10. What stood between their weakness and strength
Were barriers they themselves erected

11. I said you are ruled by an impulsive faction
Among you, and none rose up against them

12. They said: When our five prayers are completed
What harm is there in tyranny?

13. I am parting with a people headed towards what
We will be rewarded with, and religion is the best provision

14. Death holds guaranteed rest
While life is nothing but struggle

15. Do not entice our souls with its vanities
A world of delusion and corruption

16. So I cried out to them, saying: Do not lie
Religion commands you to resist and prepare

17. If the world could be bought with money
I would give it my land and possessions

18. The people entered by choice of their leader
Into the folly of the common rogue

19. So let us save this ship which almost
Drowned whether by piety or disbelief

20. The ship is in a torrential sea
And waves around it like rods

21. Oh my people preserve your strength of will
For death lies in ambush for the weak

22. Oh my people, you are not a nation for life
You are one valley, and life another valley

23. Oh my people, neither worldly life nor religion
For those who sink into the abyss in chains

24. And if the people unite in oneness
The cycles of fate change their cycles

25. Walk in the light of guidance in your night
For reason is like the guiding star

26. Better than the beastly night, pitch-dark
Is a dawn clouded by darkness

27. And I see the son of Alif led astray by passion
What made you go astray, oh son of Alif?