1. To whom, I wonder, should I complain with my tearful eyes,
In Lebanon I have no savior and confidant.

2. I had favors upon all my friends,
Yet my friends denied every favor I had.

3. Shall I complain to the law of the treachery of my companions,
When the law itself now tramples with its feet?

4. When I sought light, the scholars denied me,
And when I wore the garment of truth, my family disowned me.

5. Once, an individual from my country rebelled against me
And shot two arrows of injustice towards me.

6. Because I do not walk the path of an ignorant one
Who arrogantly walks in the darkness of ignorance.

7. Had he been reasonable and matched with loyalty,
He would not have let ignorance, tempted, judge reason.

8. But he turned a blind eye to its guidance, because
He was afflicted by the vanities of this world.

9. I saw a girl yesterday with whom
Passion grew in my heart, united and collected.

10. In her soft cheek, she has an innocent smile
That lights up the darkness of her curly hair.

11. I said to her, “Indeed I stand for love,
But my distance will betray our connection.”

12. “I will travel away from my country
For I cannot bear injustice in the homeland.”

13. I saw a group of people here who preferred
The hand of injustice to rise and destroy justice.

14. I saw them, shackled around their necks,
Their hands tied tightly in chains.

15. Led by the lowest of creatures, a group
That tries to spit venom into them like snakes.

16. It instills in them principles from whims
More clinging to the social body than vineweeds.

17. It wants them blind to the light while gloom
Spreads over truth, cover upon cover.

18. And it ridicules the one who did not applaud it,
But the blackness of coal is more lasting than kohl.

19. So she said, “Be the pure truth in the world,
And let the insects of the earth crawl in the mud.”

20. “You are not of those who are discouraged,
And you persist in revealing the darkness without pause.”

21. “Your existence in the world is to serve a principle,
So do not lament if you are steadfast on the sands.”

22. “And dictate the teachings of life to the scholars,
For the hands of generations will write what you recite.”

23. “Do not steal the self for a whim’s sake,
And tread upon the insects of the tyrants.”

24. “Whoever usurps rights for a purpose
Is most deserving of despicability and meanness.”

25. “And sing with the free the song of glory,
For the free is none but the nightingale of honor and nobility.”

26. “The free is none but that worker who
Walked over the neck of servitude and humiliation.”

27. “He is the free, the symbol of truth, the symbol of virtue,
Who moves with generations in the highest honor.”

28. “He melted his mind over the embers of life
And made it an oil that illuminates the paths.”

29. “The daughter of generations will say as she gazes
From the highest temple over the world of progeny:”

30. “Did anyone before me see existence demolished,
And did anyone before me see the free rebuilding?”

31. “Here dwelled that girl who stared
At the high kingdom with her bright eyes.”

32. “From her mouth shone the light of equality
Explaining that the King created me equal to Him.”

33. “And freedom shone from her forehead,
The symbol of brotherhood and peace be upon all.”