1. Arise, revives these edifices colleges
Rising with the stars eternal dwellers

2. Whose towering spires reach into heaven
And whose origins lie in graves long cold

3. With windows opening onto eternity
And channels flowing with life's renewal

4. Revive them, with people's awakening trust
And please them, with youth striving ahead

5. Noble lines giving birth to heroes were built
And chambers, where immortality took its seat

6. Arise, give life to these silent inspirations
And make eloquent this dense, solid stone

7. Bestow on them gifts to be revealed
No prose, no hackneyed poetry, just garlands

8. Daughter of Rustum, your mother was free
Bearing outstanding and common sons

9. While your father cradles the throne mentoring it
Fortifying its heart and mind vigilantly

10. Centuries have passed, yet he remains as he began
Yesterday, "Al-Masha", he still is today

11. He wards off dangers, looming from their heights
A shelter, bringing closer the distant universe

12. He sought no glory, nor heard rebuke
Took no silk, sat on no cushions

13. Sublime morality is a greater refuge
Than desiring chattel and concubines

14. Daughter of Rustum, let us hear you tell
Of your lovers, both near and afar

15. Those who gave their lives, they were not enslaved
To the thankful, nor insulted the ungrateful

16. And those ascending the gallows as eagles soar
To the heavens rising on steps

17. And those burned, flirting with their fire
Yearning for you, praising their executioner

18. Their eyes enchained, as if with your image
They were outlining with kohl a visit

19. Relate to me, your ransom, from the follies of the young
Who portray centuries as correspondence and scenes

20. For indeed I found - and youth has its limits -
The most wondrous daughters of thought unsurpassed

21. So cast off the robe of meanings, naked
And smile with the garments of arts adorned

22. And seek the exquisite essence of souls preciously
As guidance, and let our hearts string poems

23. Rustum’s daughter, you shone in “Basra”
And descended in "Alive" among bustling youth

24. Fertile feeling will praise its inspirer
Among its people, her ardent admirer

25. Bravo “Basma”! And pride is abundant
You have attained the most elegant lasting glory

26. You attained glory which shall never fade
And spent treasures which shall never deplete

27. Glory upon glory, so your ambition strides
Towards you intentionally, seeking glory

28. They lied. The noblest are prey for honours
Although deemed predator, they are the prey

29. And for immortality there are traps
That forever seize those who hunt glory

30. The noble walks with benevolence hand in hand
A maker, facilitating another maker's way

31. Until, having reached the peak of beauty
The noble walks alone towards noble deeds

32. Immortality is no puzzle, but rather
Souls are its hazards and its climbs

33. Other than thousands who walk as they used
By your hands, pathways and beginnings?

34. They march at dawn to the forgotten
And to vanity, if not to parlours and games

35. You revived them, so this solid matter
Bears witness eloquently to your name

36. And you gathered them, readying
An army by which to ward off plagues

37. Ignorance: the vilest thing to banish
From a homeland, by one who strays from ignorance

38. You gave the right of knowledge its due radiance
And extended to education its most generous hand

39. So give the teacher, Basma, his right
And support him, for the teacher lacks support

40. If prostration in worship was allowed for the free
I would be worshipfully prostrate before teachers

41. To the exhausted hard worker during his vigils
And one who tastes the bitterness of woes kneeling

42. To the neglected covered in wounds, seeking no hand
To dress his injuries nor requesting aid

43. To the one exploiting the essence of his mind
Feeding thousands, yet deemed as one

44. Tell the teacher, asking not guiding:
Be for youth, in ordeals, a guide

45. Creator of generations, create them ingeniously
And aspire, with ingenuity, to a critical progeny

46. A future era will say about the present
Cursed be an era which has passed away

47. And a future descendant will shun his ancestors
And blame their children for the sins of their fathers

48. Tell the youth: when storms unleash fury
Be not like the soft breeze, static

49. And when the furnaces of wrath inflame against us
Be not like the hissing of a dying fire

50. Prepare for us progeny like the gentle rain
And progeny like thunder rumbling

51. For I have seen God create mercy
An angel, and for rebellion create a demon

52. And Muhammad, no sooner marshalled his army
To tread the lands, restless and bustling

53. And to overthrow a tyrant, elevate the oppressed
Enlighten the benighted, and rouse the dormant

54. Had he not mobilised, enraged, for leadership
Fuming at fragile and resistant systems

55. He who does not resist the powerful
Is not one who yields to the weak

56. The lowliest of God's creations in a land
Where corruption reigns, are those neutral

57. Progeny who correct a corrupt era
Not become, like the era, themselves corrupt

58. You were taught the duty of discernment
So you know its benefits and harms better

59. Hastening an imperfect generation
Will only load it with further troubles

60. Release the hand of analysis in their history
Unfettered, and untie the minds' shackles

61. One must understand life with its faults
Virtues, pleasures, and ordeals

62. Side by side complementing each other
Like well-arranged strands of pearls

63. Teach them love of the willful among mankind
Passionately, and love of the devout faithfully

64. And revere nations as sanctities, do not belittle
A people, nor impose upon them examples

65. Seek out its distant past returning to it
And aid its proximate past supporting it

66. Show it the skulls of its mighty ancestors
And resurrect for it a resolute arm and hand

67. And if evidence interrogates you
About anything, demanding proof

68. Send it spectres, so let it witness
What provokes a watcher and onlooker

69. Let it witness a spectre, bare and famished
Expelled by his people, hassled and pursued

70. Reform with your curriculum, a curriculum enslaved
Made by foreigners, hating culture

71. They said: with rage he establishes in Iraq’s midst
Principles undermining dignity

72. Occupying its outskirts and oases
And closing its routes and passages

73. The armies of ruin marched troops
To the two rivers with their troops

74. No simpler than colonizing minds
By establishing in intellects, foundations

75. Arise, revive these edifices colleges
Rising with the stars eternal dwellers