1. Take my hand, let's go, my heart is full
Of sorrows that came from where I know not, and know not,

2. I entered the darkness of war for truth, and truth was clear,
Yet I left, and truth is now in the grave,

3. I extended a hand for peace, and it became
A burden, dropping every woe upon my back,

4. I am the East, it's enough that victory from God is by my side,
For the return with victory,

5. I am the West, when I turned the mill of turmoil,
I am the West, no, I am not, by God I am not the West,

6. What then is my crime, O sky, and what is it
That I become food for vultures and eagles?

7. My pact with myself was enjoyable heights,
My pact with myself was perfection and ease,

8. Do the small homelands all covet
To give me a cup of bitter aloe?

9. Do they hope for my death so they live happy
A month or a day of the month upon earth?

10. Neither this nor that is easy thus,
My life withers without crime or sin,

11. Nor is it easy to smash my minaret
With an axe that comes from deceit and cunning,

12. Is one like me only deserving of humiliation and misery
When in my body is the spirit of glory and pride?

13. Is it possible that I become the slave, how strange!
And where am I from he who attained freedom?

14. Can I become the captive while my gaze
Watches the birds in the bushes enjoying liberty?

15. Then unleash upon me the lightning of vengeance,
For death is better for me than captivity,

16. Then burn me, O sky, with torrents
Of fire, if fire is easier in adversity,

17. No - by Him who elevated you - do not hurry,
Even if my course today is on a rugged path,

18. I will show you proof, wait, for I
Am stronger when the time comes than rock,

19. I will make my dear heroes a fence,
Surrounding this country, blessing this country,

20. I will write in this space with letters
Of fire - towards glory or the abyss of defeat,

21. And it's enough proof that in the East is an ember
That cannot be extinguished by torrents today,

22. It flares with spirits filled with rage coming down,
And without it, it would not have left a heart in the chest,

23. Am I not the one whose words give light
To the world until the rise of dawn?

24. Am I not the one whose sparks flew
From every creed, from me, to land and sea?

25. Am I not the one whose right hand you shook
When all below us walked?

26. Yes, and when misery leaves us,
We must return to that era,

27. So extend a hand and welcome me, for I
Walk lightly to you, truly, I run,

28. My first beloved, long has been between us
The days of pining, do you remember the prime of youth?

29. The time has come for me to meet you with a smile
And how much joy that smile holds for me!

30. O Easterner, is there no affect
That stirs that heart? Enough fear!

31. Is there no awakening from these calamities for you?
Do you have no excuse in turmoils?

32. To the blue dome, striving towards the sky
To a council with no veil between its blooming stars,

33. Seek the means to highness, for only to you
Does contentment display approval, not to others,

34. And cut off a hand that spends your days
Cutting your heart - Oh what a matter!

35. It is the greatest heedlessness, its sorrows multiplying,
So forsake it, and greater than this loss is no loss,

36. It is the greatest shock, so when it passes,
Either the East passes in the bloom of youth,

37. So say, O human, are you vengeful?
Or are you content, however you stand, you lose?

38. Take this poetry and read, for in poetry is wisdom,
And if you do not heed, woe unto my poetry!