1. مضى ليلي وأعقبه الصباح

    وما رحلت عن القلب الجراح

    My night passed, and morning followed it.

    Yet the wounds have not left the heart.

  2. أرى عصفور أحلامي أمامي

    وما غنى ولا خفق الجناح

    I see the sparrow of my dreams before me,

    Yet it has not sung, nor has its wing fluttered.

  3. أشاهد من وراء الغيب وجه

    تجلى في ملامحه ارتياح

    I behold, beyond the unseen, a face

    In whose features contentment shone.

  4. وأطمح للقاء به ولكن

    متى هذا اللقاء به يتاح

    And I yearn to meet him, but

    When will this meeting with him be possible?

  5. كأني والقوافل ماضيات

    طريد مات في فمه الصياح

    It is as though, while the caravans move on,

    I were an outcast whose cry died in his mouth.

  6. تلفت يمنة فرأى سراب

    وعن يسراه وافاه النباح

    He turned to the right and saw a mirage;

    And barking reached him from his left.

  7. فأرخى طرفه وبكى وأبكى

    ودمع الحر في الشكوى مباح

    So he lowered his gaze, wept, and made others weep.

    And a free man's tears are permitted in lament.

  8. وقفت على مشارف ذكرياتي

    أراقب من غدوا عنا وراحوا

    I stood upon the heights of my memories,

    Watching those who went away from us and departed.

  9. خيول الراحلين لها صهيل

    وقد ضاقت بمن رحلوا البطاح

    The horses of the departed neigh,

    And the plains grew cramped for those who departed.

  10. أسائلهم ولو نطقوا لقالو

    من الأحياء موتانا استراحوا

    I question them; and if they spoke, they would say:

    'Our dead have found rest from the living.'

  11. أرى نخل المشاعر باسقات

    عليها من مهابتها وشاح

    I see the palms of feeling towering high,

    A sash of their own majesty upon them.

  12. أراها لا عذوق لها ولكن

    لها سعف تغاض به الرماح

    I see they have no date-clusters, yet

    They have fronds that humble spears.

  13. وكيف تريد ثمرا من نخيل

    إذا لم يجر في دمها اللقاح

    And how can you expect fruit from palms

    If pollen does not flow through their blood?

  14. تسائلني الحبيبة كيف أشدو

    بأحزاني أفي الحزن انشراح

    My beloved asks me how I sing

    Of my sorrows: 'Is there joy in sorrow?'

  15. فقلت لها لأن الحزن شعر

    وبينهما انغلاق وانفتاح

    I told her: 'Because sorrow is poetry,

    And between the two lie closure and openness.'

  16. وما كل الذين بكوا حزانى

    وإن نطقوا بشكواهم وباحوا

    Not all who weep are sorrowful,

    Even if they voice their complaints and speak openly.

  17. بكاء البلبل الشادي غناء

    وشدو حمائم الدوح النواح

    The weeping of the singing nightingale is song,

    And the song of the great trees' doves is lament.

  18. ولو أني أبوح بما أعاني

    لما وفى الأساس ولا الصحاح

    And if I were to reveal what I suffer,

    Neither al-Asas nor al-Sihah would suffice.

  19. رأيت المبعدين ولو رآهم

    كرؤيتنا لأنجدهم صلاح

    I saw the exiles; and had he seen them

    As we did, Salah would have come to their aid.

  20. لدى رابين مدفأة وبيت

    يظلله وريحان وراح

    Rabin has a heater and a house

    That shelters him, and sweet basil and wine,

  21. وحراس يروح بهم ويغدو

    وساحات ممهدة فساح

    And guards with whom he goes at dusk and dawn,

    And spacious, level courtyards.

  22. وهم فوق الجليد ولا قريب

    يناصرهم ولا أمل متاح

    While they are upon the ice, with no kinsman

    To support them, nor any hope within reach.

  23. إذا سكنوا الخيام شكوا صقيع

    وتلطمهم إذا خرجوا الرياح

    When they dwell in the tents, they complain of frost,

    And when they go out, the winds buffet them.

  24. أحبتنا لكم منا سلام ، لكم

    من بلبل الشوق الصداح

    Our loved ones, peace to you from us—to you,

    From longing's full-throated nightingale.

  25. لكم من وزن شعري ما تسام

    ومن ألفاظه الغرر الفصاح

    Yours is what soars in the meter of my verse,

    And the brightest, most eloquent of its words.

  26. رأيناكم فما للحزن حد

    ولا للهيبه عنَّا براح

    We have seen you, so sorrow knows no bounds,

    Nor does its blaze leave us.

  27. على أحزاننا نمسي ومنه

    يكون إذا بدا الفجر اصطباح

    We enter evening with our sorrows, and from sorrow

    Comes our morning draught when dawn appears.

  28. تراكم أمتي بعيون حيرى

    يعطلها عن السير الكساح

    My nation sees you with bewildered eyes,

    Rickets keeps it from advancing.

  29. تتوق شعوبها للذود عنكم

    ولكن ما بأيدهم سلاح

    Its peoples yearn to defend you,

    But no weapons are in their hands.

  30. شعوب تكره الباغي ولكن

    من الحكام للباغي السماح

    Peoples who hate the aggressor, yet

    The rulers grant the aggressor permission.

  31. تسائلني فلسطين المآسي

    وقد دارت بحسرتها القداح

    Palestine of tragedies asks me,

    While the goblets of her anguish have gone round:

  32. متى تصحو ربوعي ذات يوم

    على صوت يُفك به السراح

    When will my lands wake one day

    To a voice that unlocks freedom?

  33. متى أصحو على تكبير جند

    وتهليل يطيب به الكفاح

    When will I wake to soldiers' cries of 'God is greatest,'

    And cries of 'There is no god but God' that make the struggle sweet?

  34. حبيبتنا اعذرينا إن فين

    خضوعا لا يروق له (الطماح)

    Our beloved, forgive us, for within us

    Is a submission that finds no delight in aspiration.

  35. تصاغ من السلام لنا دعاوى

    وفي الأقصى ولبنان اجتياح

    Claims of peace are fashioned for us,

    While al-Aqsa and Lebanon are invaded.

  36. إذا باع الفتى للوهم عقل

    ففكرته التي ولدت سفاح

    If a young man sells his mind to illusion,

    Then his idea is one born of illicit union.

  37. ولولا أن في الدنيا انتكاس

    لما عشقت مسيلمةً سجاح

    And were there no degeneration in this world,

    Sajah would not have loved Musaylimah.