1. If my longing comes echoing the call of a beloved,
Reaching out to you despite closed horizons,

2. It is because I have spread my wings
To embrace your torment in my pinions,

3. And misfortune binds me to you,
And what grief and pain have joined us.

4. Memories of you fill me,
Good wishes and pure desires.

5. I am as events have shaped me to be,
Through difficulties and obstacles galore.

6. I have grown in spite of humiliation
My place is eternal in the clouds.

7. I embrace the stars from my watchtower
And strut between planets and domes.

8. I look out on the universe, keeping the struggle alive,
And through it I spend my life, vigorous and keen.

9. For he who was nourished on brilliant stars
Will sail the skies of glory like a shooting star.

10. I have shed my blood, so my wounds awakened
Coloring the planets with my crimson stain.

11. I have loved my homeland, so my heart clung
To achieving its goal, storming fate’s domain.

12. What day will the poet of glory repent,
If he passed as one who gave in to fate’s ban?

13. Your letter came to me, oh sister of my soul,
And I greeted your spirit between its pages.

14. At it my wounds trembled and were revived,
My dreams of yesterday traced out replies.

15. Yes, I remember, I remember,
The evenings of brotherhood and playing with friends,

16. Shaded by the jasmine’s canopy—
Two wings, of bliss and melancholy.

17. We would chat until conversation swooned
Into a troubled dream lost in mirage.

18. We were sad and laughed at our own state,
With tears of mirth mingling amidst our pain.

19. Yes, I remember, I remember,
When arrogance faded away, leaving only joy.

20. Your poetry is sweeter than the impossible,
Reaching great heights, climbing mountain crags.

21. Unfettered as you are, before each coquette
You excel in artistry, between cajoling and coaxing.

22. Your poetry in my country is like rain,
Seducing it with wishes and desires.

23. So it wakes to the beats of struggle
And flutters between banners raised and swords crossed.

24. I am as events have shaped me to be,
The sun kisses me despite the fog.

25. The light carries me along each path,
So I fold up grievances and crest each hill.

26. My goal alone accompanies me,
And my desire impales me with yearning for triumph.

27. I thirst, and the cup is in my hand,
Dancing in it are passion and wine.

28. I stand naked, and youth fills my life,
It swells, and the prime of my youth swells.

29. For my wounded people I want life,
So hopes can grow, towering over torment.

30. It is their right to live free existence,
And build it proud, open and wide.

31. None but God has any claim over them
To inflict punishment from on high.

32. And you, if my book comes to you,
And I greet you between its pages,

33. And you find tears scattered in its lines
Cascading between angry verses,

34. I implore you—do not despair,
For hopes have a tear of joy and yearning.

35. If you reproach me, great hearts
Relish longing and gentle rebukes.

36. Tomorrow the night will recede from our garden,
Furling its wing, lifting its veil.

37. Tomorrow the nation will shake off its delusions,
And the nation will have awesome and sharp triumph.

38. Its millions have sworn never to sleep
While their path holds a place for the wolves.

39. They yearn for revenge across torment,
And count the seconds to the day of reckoning.

40. If my longing comes echoing the call of a beloved,
Reaching out to you despite closed horizons,

41. I must return to life,
And return I must from the heights to the land.

42. If the people call out for me one day,
I will rise for them from the bosom of dust!