1. If the reins of the masses were in my hands,
I would have led my homeland on the path of rebellion.

2. For then it would know that no nation can live
That tries to live without renewal.

3. If it were up to me, I would prepare a force
That would accustom this people to what they are not accustomed to.

4. If it were up to me, I would proclaim a revolution
Against every destroyer with a thousand builders.

5. Against every reactionary with a thousand opponents
Who seems angry today and cries over tomorrow.

6. But I walk carefully
And perhaps I slip but without using my hands.

7. And around me there are flutes and lies
When you test them, you see only laziness.

8. By your life, renewal is not that the youth is seen
Going as he wishes, dissolute and overfed,

9. But that his mind is free, adorned
With experiences, like a blazing star.

10. Homelands have set out, when they cast off the garment of stagnation,
They saw its removal as inevitable, so they did not hesitate.

11. And they decided on the injustice to my country, allotting it
Whatever they wished from perdition, by the hand of the worshipper.

12. So what a people, slow for its own good,
Who walked eagerly into blindness and numbness.

13. When called to reform, its wings recoil,
And if tied in the rope of the deceiver, it pulls.

14. Visit the dusty square from every house
You will find what arouses sorrow from every grave.

15. You will find a den of illusions and a dumping ground of superstitions
And various passions that end where they begin.

16. They surrendered and so they were enslaved by customs
That walked among the people like those in shackles.

17. By your life, the people lack an awakening
That would stir in them every frozen will.

18. Either a free, straight life
Worthy of a people with glory and steadfastness,

19. Or death, where effort ends,
So you are excused - so choose which garment you will wear.

20. Otherwise, no awakening can be hoped for a nation
That stands on this shaky foundation.

21. And what do you expect of a country pulled by a hair
And a people guided by the misguided?

22. I say to a people who pull behind them
The wretched, like a tethered camel,

23. They have stood over the breaths and monopolized them
So what path can a person take to be expelled?

24. And none of them but one who, if his nights
Are made pleasant for him, is boastful, or if soured, complains.

25. Leave the people to reform, to take their path
And do not stand in ambush for the reformers.

26. And do not plant your thorns in their way
You hinder them – he who plants thorns harvests wounds.

27. Is it not what the Prophet Muhammad complains of
That you make lawful in the name of Muhammad?

28. The Book was not revealed this way
Nor did the Law speak of this promise.

29. If I am right, you say the time has not yet come
You want to satiate your stomachs for the promise.

30. May God guide you, people gone astray
Help the steps of the risers and make them firm.

31. Inspire my tongue not to flatter
I see myself and if I flatter, I will not last.

32. Grant that my honesty betrays me
Can the life of one who flatters be eternal?

33. For even if the stars were my necklaces
I would not obey like a blind follower.

34. Nor say: I have become one of you, though I see
Your misguidance, or that I am not guided.

35. Rather, if I see right, I persevere in it
And when I gain error I distance myself.

36. Am I not a poet you hope
Will support truth or assail a transgressor?

37. Why would I deliberately impair my talents
And lead a free soul to the worst fate?

38. I have a tongue that has not failed me in any gathering
Like the sword of Amr that did not fail him in any battle.