1. دسي بهاك وَموتي موتة اللهج

    لا أَبتَغيك فاني لست بالبهج

    Hide your beauty, and die a lovesick death.

    I do not desire you, for I am not joyful.

  2. هَل في الجَمال وَعندي علة عظمت

    ما يَستَفيد فيه المَعلول للفرج

    Is there in beauty, when my affliction has grown grave,

    anything from which the ailing can gain relief?

  3. وَما لِذي نكد في الحاجبين وَما

    لِذي هموم تَرى في دقة الزجج

    And what is there in eyebrows for one in misery, and what

    do you see for the careworn in their slender arches?

  4. واين من عينه ذابت بدمعتها

    من حب عين تذيب النفس بالدعج

    And how far is one whose eye has melted in its tears

    from loving an eye that melts the soul with its deep blackness!

  5. لَو طاوَعتَني حَياتي وَهيَ شارِدَة

    مِمّا اعد لها ما عشت في هرج

    Had my life obeyed me, though it strays

    from what I prepare for it, I would not have lived in turmoil.

  6. كَيفَ الحَياة واين العيش مشتبها

    عني افي الدرج ام في داخل المرج

    What is life like, and where is living? It is unclear

    to me—is it on the stairs, or within the meadow?

  7. مَهلا بربك يا اخت الغَزال فَقَد

    صارَت مواقفنا في الموقع الحرج

    Gently, by your Lord, O sister of the gazelle, for

    our circumstances have reached a perilous point.

  8. نَخشى السجون اذا قصوا وَقائعها

    حَتّى راينا بها الموسى عَلى الودج

    We feared prisons when they recounted what happened there,

    until we saw the razor there against the jugular.

  9. اما وَقَد لاحَ ما تَخفي ضَمائرهم

    كنا باوطاننا كالابق السمج

    Now that what their hearts conceal has come to light,

    in our homelands we have been like a loathsome runaway slave.

  10. نَقضي الحَياة وَنَرضى من أَشعتها

    بالدون في قفص الاشواك وَالهلج

    We pass through life, content to take from its rays

    the lowliest share, in a cage of thorns and falsehood.

  11. حَتّى إِذا قيل ان القطر صار لَنا

    سجنا كَبيرا راينا اكبر الحجج

    Until, when it was said that the country had become for us

    a vast prison, we saw the strongest proofs.

  12. فيه الابي وَفيهِ الحر قَد وَلَجا

    بَل لَيسَ في الناس من بالرغم لَم يلج

    Both the unbowed and the free have entered it;

    indeed, all the people have entered against their will.

  13. غر المقيد ان القيد منعدم

    فاِرتاح مُبتَسِما في منظر بهج

    The shackled man was deceived into thinking no shackle existed,

    so he relaxed, smiling, amid a cheerful scene.

  14. ليست سلاسلهم في الساق موقعها

    لكن موقعها في رقة الثبج

    Their chains are not fastened at the shin,

    but lie in the frailty of the upper back.

  15. لَهفي عَلى بلد صرنا نسام به

    سوم الحَمير فَلَم نخجل وَلَم نعج

    Alas for a land where we came to be treated

    like donkeys, yet felt no shame and raised no cry.

  16. نَلقى به الضيم حَتّى في مَنازِلنا

    مذ لازمتها جيوش الصل وَالعمج

    There we suffer oppression even in our homes,

    since armies of asps and serpents have occupied them.

  17. وَالبَدر تلسعنا اضواء هالته

    حَتّى نسيم الصبا أَمسى كَذي وَهَج

    And the full moon—the lights of its halo sting us;

    even the east wind's breeze has become as though aflame.

  18. اواه ايتها الحَسناء لَيسَ لَنا

    الاك منقذة من ذلك العوج

    Alas, O fair one, we have no one

    but you to rescue us from that crookedness.

  19. هاكَ الشَبيبة لا تَستَعظِمي عَمَلا

    فيهم فَما صبحنا منهم بمنبلج

    Here are the young: deem no task too great

    among them, for our dawn has not broken forth from them.

  20. واِستَصحبي الحزم في اخراج ناشئة

    واِستَصحبي الحذق في غزل وَفي نسج

    And take resolve with you in raising a generation,

    and take skill with you in spinning and in weaving.

  21. كوني لزهرتهم طلا يبللها

    حَتّى تَضوع بما نَرجوه من ارج

    Be dew for their blossom, moistening it,

    until it gives off the fragrance we hope for.

  22. كوني لهم باعث التَهذيب في صغر

    يَخطو بامتنا للنقه وَالفَرج

    Be for them an inspiration to refinement in childhood,

    striding with our nation toward recovery and relief.

  23. قولي لهم قوموا المعوج تَكتَسِبوا

    يوم الجَزاء قَضيبا غير ذي عوج

    Tell them: straighten what is crooked, and you will gain

    on the day of recompense a rod free of crookedness.

  24. كونوا عَلى قدم ما بين مفتكر

    في حقه باذلا جهدا وَمحتلج

    Be on your feet, some reflecting

    on their rights and exerting effort, others striving.

  25. هيا ادخلوا بسلام امنين بلا

    خوف فقوتل من يابى وَلَم يلج

    Come, enter in peace, safe and without

    fear; let whoever refuses and has not entered be fought.

  26. وَشل ساعد من حَتّى بانملة

    لم يخدم الشعب بين الكد وَالهزج

    And may the forearm wither of anyone who, even with a fingertip,

    has not served the people amid toil and song.