1. كَفى الشعب عسفا ما يُلاقي من القهر

    وَجبنا لدى الشكوى التَحاشي من الجهر

    The oppression the people endure is tyranny enough;

    and shunning open speech when complaining is cowardice enough.

  2. صبرنا عَلى مس الاذى لجسومنا

    وَمذ ادرك الأَرواح ملنا عَن الصبر

    We endured harm touching our bodies;

    and once it reached our souls, we turned away from patience.

  3. وَلما درينا الواجب اليوم ظننا

    بنو الغرب ذاك الواجب اليوم لا نَدري

    And when we learned our duty today, we were thought

    by the sons of the West not to know that duty today.

  4. رمينا بسهم في الحَياة وانما

    رايناه مَرشوقا لديهم عَلى الصدر

    We loosed an arrow into life, only

    to see it lodged in their breast.

  5. فَقاموا قيام الناقمين وَزمجروا

    وَصبوا علينا وابل الرعب وَالزجر

    So they rose like the wrathful and roared,

    and poured upon us a torrent of terror and rebuke.

  6. فَشَعشَع في افق السياسة كوكب

    ببنزرت باق للشقا خالد الذكر

    Then a star blazed on the political horizon,

    in Bizerte—a lasting source of misery, forever remembered.

  7. نَرى حادِث الجلاز فيه مجسما

    وَنهر دماء الابرياء به يَجري

    We see the Jellaz incident embodied in it,

    and a river of innocent blood flowing through it.

  8. وَقَد فاتنا انا نشاهد بعده

    نظيرا وان الدهر اشبه بالدهر

    And we had not witnessed, after it,

    its like, though one age so resembles another,

  9. إِلى ان تعاصى القوت عَن كل عامل

    باطفاله كم انشب الجوع من ظفر

    until sustenance became unattainable to every worker;

    how many a claw hunger sank into his children!

  10. تَراهم اذا حلوا المازر هَيكَلا

    تَداعَت به الاركان للوقع وَالخر

    When they untie their waist-wraps, you see them as skeletons

    whose supports give way, ready to fall and collapse.

  11. يَمدون كَفا ايبس الفاس غضها

    الى الاجر لكن لا سَبيل الى الاجر

    They stretch out a hand whose softness the axe has withered

    toward wages, yet wages are beyond reach.

  12. لِذا اِعتَصَبوا والاعتصاب مطية

    الى الحق لا تَدري التَباطؤ في السير

    Thus they went on strike; a strike is a mount

    toward justice that knows no slowness on the road.

  13. فارعد راس المال واشتد غيظه

    واصبح في ثوب من العجب وَالكبر

    So capital thundered, and its rage grew fierce,

    and it donned the garb of vanity and pride.

  14. والقى لاذان الحكومة امره

    واني لها الاغضاء من ذلك الأمر

    It delivered its command to the government's ears;

    and how could the government overlook that command?

  15. فالقت يد الفولاذ عنهم وَسولت

    لها نَفسها اخضاعهم بيد الجبر

    So it withdrew its hand of steel from them, and was tempted

    by its own soul to subdue them with the hand of force.

  16. واملت عَلى من يحفظ الامن وحيها

    بتذليلهم فاهتز من شدة البشر

    And it dictated its revelation to the keeper of order:

    to subjugate them; he quivered with sheer delight.

  17. وَسرعان ما كانَ الركاب مهيا

    وَسرعان ما ام البلاد عَلى الفور

    And swiftly the mounts were made ready,

    and swiftly he headed for the town at once.

  18. هناك رأى ان الهدو مخيم

    عليها وَلكن ظنه شدة الذعر

    There he saw that calm had settled

    over it, but he took it for sheer terror.

  19. فَحاول ان ينهي الخلاف مسيطرا

    عليهم فَلَم يظفر بمنشوده القسري

    So he tried to end the dispute by asserting control

    over them, but failed to attain his coercive aim.

  20. فاعمل فيهم طيشه باشارة

    لاعوانه كانَت مجالب للشر

    So he unleashed his recklessness upon them with a signal

    to his aides, which brought on evil.

  21. فَلَم يلبثوا أَن اشعلوا النار رغم ما

    راوا من جنوح الاشقياء الى القر

    So they lost no time in opening fire, despite what

    they saw of the wretched people's inclination toward peace.

  22. وَكانَت رحى حرب تدور وانما

    عليهم وَكانَ الأَمر من افظع الامر

    And the millstone of war was turning, but only

    against them; it was among the most dreadful of affairs.

  23. وَقَد مزقت اجسامهم بِبَنادق

    اعدت لهم من دون ذنب وَلا وزر

    And their bodies were torn apart by rifles

    made ready for them, though they had neither guilt nor sin.

  24. وَقد جندلوا فوق البَسيطة بعضهم

    جَريح وَبعض قَد اصابوه بالكسر

    And they were felled upon the earth, some

    wounded, and others whose bones they had broken.

  25. واخر مغلول اليَدين مصيره

    الى السجن مَرفوعا بسلسلة الجر

    And another, his hands shackled, was destined

    for prison, hauled along by a dragging chain.

  26. يصيحون لكن لَيسَ يجدي صياحهم

    وَيستَنجدون القوم وَالقَلب من صخر

    They cry out, but their cries avail them nothing;

    and they call upon the people for aid, but the heart is stone.

  27. ومن بينهم من انزع الروح تاركا

    صغارا له لا ينقصون عَلى عشر

    And among them was one stripped of life, leaving

    young children of his own, no fewer than ten.

  28. اكبوا عليه ينظرون كلومه

    وَقَد ادركت شبرا واكثر من شبر

    They bent over him, looking at his wounds,

    which measured a handspan, and more than a handspan.

  29. وَنادوا وَلكن لَم يجبهم فانزلوا

    عَلى جسمه دمعا أَتاحوه من طهر

    And they called, but he did not answer, so they poured

    upon his body tears they offered out of innocence.

  30. وَقالوا ابانا من لساعة عسرنا

    وانت الَّذي نَلقاك في ساعة العسر

    And they said: Our father, who is there for our hour of hardship,

    when you are the one we find in the hour of hardship?

  31. عهدناك ذا حرص علينا تضمنا

    اليك وايات السرور عَلى الثغر

    We knew you full of care for us, drawing us

    to you, with signs of joy upon your lips.

  32. وَها نحن نَمشي خلفك اليوم عندما

    راينا عَلى الايدي مسيرك للقبر

    And here we are, walking behind you today, now that

    we have seen you borne upon hands toward the grave.

  33. وَفي كل قَلب من مصابك حرقة

    وَفي صفحة التاريخ سطر عَلى سطر

    And in every heart is burning grief at your loss,

    and on the page of history, line upon line.

  34. أَنَشكو إِلى من ام نمد اكفنا

    باوطاننا ذلا الى الحنظل المر

    To whom shall we complain? Or shall we stretch out our hands

    in our homelands, abased, toward bitter colocynth?

  35. ومن كدنا تبنى القصور لسادة

    اوامرهم لا تقربوا ساحة القصر

    And from our toil, palaces are built for masters

    whose commands are: Do not approach the palace grounds.

  36. أَلَم يَعلَموا انا نظرنا الى الثَرى

    كَثيرا وانا ننظر اليوم للبدر

    Do they not know that we have gazed at the dust

    so often, and that today we gaze at the full moon?

  37. وان الالى بالامس كانوا عبيدهم

    قَد اِنقَلَبوا للشهم في صورة الحر

    And that those who yesterday were their slaves

    have become, to the noble-hearted, the image of the free?

  38. الا فَليَكونوا كيف شاؤوا فاننا

    عرفنا سَبيل الشر من سبل الخير

    Indeed, let them be as they wish, for we

    have learned to tell evil's path from the paths of good.

  39. فَلا النار تَثنينا وَلا الجمر صالح

    لاخماد نار ان اضافوه للجمر

    So fire will not turn us back, nor are embers fit

    to quench a fire if they add them to the embers.

  40. وَيَكفي لتطمين النفوس وَثوقها

    بمستقبل بين الرياحين والزهر

    And enough to reassure the souls is their trust

    in a future amid fragrant herbs and flowers.