1. لَمِن دمٌ في مغانِي الحيِّ مطلولُ

    يَبكي عليه هوىً في السِّربِ مَخذولُ

    Whose blood lies unavenged in the tribe's dwelling places,

    while a love forsaken amid the flock weeps over it?

  2. أطمَعْنَ ذا الشَّوقِ حتّى لم يَدَعْ أملاً

    ثُمَّ انصرَفنَ وما فيهنَّ تَأميلُ

    They raised the yearning man's hopes till he left no hope untried,

    then turned away, and there was no hope in them.

  3. يُحدِثنَ في الحبِّ ديناً كلُّه بِدعٌ

    والحبُّ دِينُ الهُدَى ما فيه تبديلُ

    They devise a creed in love made wholly of innovations;

    and love is the faith of guidance, admitting no change.

  4. يا سارِيَ البرقِ هل لي منك راحلةٌ

    أم أنتَ عن دارِها بالشّام مَشغولُ

    O night-roaming lightning, have you a mount for me,

    or are you too preoccupied to heed her home in al-Sham?

  5. حَملتُ حُرَّ الهَوى والشَّوقِ في كَبدٍ

    وَلْهَى يَلوذُ بها حَرَّانُ مَتبولُ

    I bore pure love and longing in a liver

    distraught, where a parched, love-stricken man seeks refuge.

  6. يا قلبُ وَيحكَ لا الأُردنُّ طَوعُ يَدِي

    إن جِئتَ مُستسْقِياً يوماً ولا النّيلُ

    O heart, alas for you! The Jordan is not at my command—

    should you come seeking water one day—nor is the Nile.

  7. مالي وللماءِ ما تجرِي جَداوِلُه

    إلا جَرَى بالمنايا فيه عِزريلُ

    What have I to do with water? Its channels never flow

    without Azrael coursing through it, bringing death.

  8. أهتاجُ للموتِ يَغشاني ويُمسِكُني

    أَنِّي على ظَمَئِي والوِردُ مقتولُ

    I am shaken by death as it enfolds me, and what grips me

    is that I remain thirsty, while the watering place lies slain.

  9. يا طائرَ الشّامِ هَزَّتْهُ خَمائِلُهُ

    رَأْدَ الضُّحَى واسْتَخفَّتْهُ الأظاليلُ

    O bird of al-Sham, stirred by its leafy thickets

    in the early forenoon, buoyed up by the shades,

  10. هَيَّجتَ في النّيل طيراً ما بأيكتهِ

    لِينٌ ولا عُودُه ريّانُ مَطلولُ

    you stirred a bird beside the Nile whose thicket holds

    no softness, nor is its branch well-watered and dewy.

  11. يَسْتَشرِفُ الطّيرَ تَستهوِي عصابتَها

    عَمياءُ آفاقُها غُبْرٌ مَجاهيلُ

    It watches the birds, whose flock is lured

    by a blind expanse with dusty, unknown horizons.

  12. أسرَى القطا حين تَستغشِي غياهبَها

    واني المطارِ وأهدى الجنِّ ضِلّيلُ

    The best night-flying sandgrouse, when wrapped in its darkness,

    falters in flight, and the best-guided jinn loses its way.

  13. ما يَنتحِي القَدَرُ الجاري بها أَمَداً

    حتّى يكونَ له رَدٌّ وتحويلُ

    Fate, coursing through it, never heads toward a goal

    without meeting a reversal and a change of course.

  14. ماذا يرى النّاسُ في شَعْبٍ تُهدِّمُه

    أهواؤُه وتُعفِّيهِ الأباطيلُ

    What do people see in a nation torn down

    by its own passions and effaced by falsehoods?

  15. إلّا يكن طَللاً يُشجيكَ دَارِسُه

    فإنّه مَنزلٌ بالسُّوءِ مأهولُ

    If it is not a ruin whose worn remains sadden you,

    then it is a dwelling peopled by evil.

  16. كأنَّهُ حِينَ غَالتْهُ عَمايتُه

    على الهوانِ وحُبِّ الضَّيمِ مَجبولُ

    As though, when its blindness laid it low,

    it were fashioned for humiliation and a love of being wronged.

  17. مَشَى به الجِدُّ ثم ارتدّ مُنقَلِباً

    فَعلَ النزيفِ به من دائهُ غُولُ

    Earnestness bore it forward; then it turned back, reeling,

    like a drunkard, with a ghoul of its sickness within it.

  18. ألقَى به الشُؤمُ في هَوجاءَ ليس بها

    إلا اللّجاجُ وإلا القالُ والقيلُ

    Ill fortune cast it into a raging tempest with

    nothing but obstinacy, nothing but chatter and hearsay.

  19. طاشتْ به تُرّهاتُ اللابسين له

    ثَوبَ الرِّياءِ وغرّته التهاويلُ

    It reeled at the nonsense of those who dressed for it

    in hypocrisy's robe; terrifying spectacles deceived it.

  20. صَاحَ النَّذيرُ فلم يَفزعْ لِصَيْحَتِه

    إلا السّماواتُ لمّا اهْتَزَّ جبريلُ

    The warner cried out, but none took fright at his cry

    except the heavens, when Gabriel trembled.

  21. مَن لي بقومٍ إذا ساروا لِطَيَّتِهم

    ساروا سواءً فلا نكبٌ ولا ميلُ

    Who can bring me a people who, setting out for their goal,

    travel straight, with neither swerve nor deviation?

  22. من عَلَّمَ القومَ أنّ الجِدَّ تَصديَةٌ

    لِلاعبين وأنّ المجدَ تضليلُ

    Who taught the people that earnest effort is applause

    for players, and that glory is deceit?

  23. ما انفكّتِ اللَّقوةُ الشَّقواءُ جائلةً

    في الجوِّ حتّى ثَوَى في الوكرِ زغلولُ

    The long-beaked eagle never ceased circling

    in the air until Zaghlul settled in the nest.

  24. تَفْدي الجِواءَ إليهِ وهو مُنْكَدِرٌ

    دامِي الجناحِ على النّكباءِ محمولُ

    She ransoms the open expanse for him as he plunges,

    bloody-winged, borne upon a crosswind.

  25. تَرمِي به كلَّ خفَّاقِ المَدى قَذِفٍ

    ما تنتهِي سَعَةٌ منه ولا طُولُ

    It hurled him into every windswept, far-flung expanse

    whose breadth and length have no end,

  26. حتّى إذا خَرَّ طارتْ حول مَوقعِه

    هَلكَى النُّفُوسِ وضَجَّ العصرُ والجيلُ

    until, when he fell, around the place of his fall fluttered

    the broken-souled, and the age and the generation cried out.

  27. أَما لِقومي وإن جَلَّتْ مُصيبتُهم

    إلا التّغاريدُ تُزجَى والتّهاليلُ

    Have my people, though their calamity is great,

    nothing but songs sent forth and chants of praise?

  28. روايةٌ في شُعوبِ الشَّرق رائعةٌ

    لها على مَلعبِ الأجيالِ تمثيلُ

    An astonishing drama among the peoples of the East

    is enacted upon the stage of generations.

  29. يا سعدُ عَلِّلْ نُفوسَ القومِ ثانيةً

    إن كان ينفعُ بعدَ اليومِ تعليلُ

    O Sa'd, console the people's souls once more,

    if consolation can avail after today.

  30. قُلْ للمحامين رُدُّوا من أَعِنَّتِكم

    ضَاعَ الحِمَى وَاسْتُبِيح اللَّيْثُ والغيلُ

    Tell the advocates: draw in your reins;

    the sanctuary is lost; lion and thicket are laid open to ravage.

  31. وَيْليِ على الفَارسِ المِغوارِ إذ حَسرتْ

    عنه الدُّروعُ وخانته السَّرابيلُ

    Woe is me for the valiant horseman, when there fell away

    from him the armor, and his tunics betrayed him.

  32. دَارتْ رَحَى الحربِ فينا دَوْرَةً عجباً

    فارتدَّ مُسْتَبسِلٌ وانقضَّ إجفيلُ

    War's millstone made an astonishing turn among us,

    so a fearless fighter recoiled, and a coward swooped down.

  33. إنّي نصحتُ لِقومي قبل مَصرعِهم

    لو أنّ نُصحَ ذوي الألبابِ مقبولُ

    I indeed counseled my people before their downfall—

    if only the counsel of the wise were accepted!

  34. مالي وللشّعر هل تَهدي رَوائِعُه

    مَن ليس يَهْديه قُرآنٌ وإنجيلُ

    What have I to do with poetry? Can its masterpieces guide

    one whom neither Qur'an nor Gospel guides?

  35. ليسوا بقوميَ إن طَالتْ جهالتُهم

    وظَلَّ يخدعُهم ظنٌّ وتَخييلُ

    They are not my people if their ignorance persists,

    and conjecture and illusion keep deceiving them.

  36. قَومِي الأُلىَ لا غطاءٌ فوق أَعْيُنِهِم

    ولا حجابٌ على الألبابِ مسدولُ

    My people are those with no covering over their eyes,

    and no veil drawn down over their minds.

  37. يا وَيْحَ للشرقِ هل قامت به أُممٌ

    تَستنفِدُ العدَّ أم قامتْ تماثيلُ

    Alas for the East! Have nations arisen there,

    beyond all counting, or have statues arisen?

  38. سالت عليهم ذِئابُ الغَرْبِ تأكلُهم

    كذلكَ العاجزُ المغلوبُ مأكولُ

    The wolves of the West poured down on them, devouring them;

    thus the helpless, vanquished one is devoured.

  39. أقولُ للقومِ فَوضَى في مَذاهِبهم

    سِيرُوا على سَنَنِ الأحياء أو زُولوا

    I say to the people, chaotic in their ways:

    Walk the path of the living, or vanish.

  40. لوذوا بركنٍ من الأخلاقِ مُمتنِعٍ

    تَهوِي الفيالقُ عنهُ والأساطيلُ

    Seek refuge in an unassailable bastion of morality,

    from which legions and fleets tumble down.

  41. لاهُمَّ أدرِكْ شُعوباً بَاتَ يُرمِضُها

    عَيْشٌ لها في رُبوعِ الشّرقِ مملولُ

    O God, rescue peoples now scorched

    by their wearisome life in the lands of the East.

  42. لاهُمَّ إن تكُنِ العُقبَى لِمُحتسِبٍ

    فَهَبْ لنا الصّبرَ حتّى يُدرَكَ السُّولُ

    O God, if the final reward is for one who awaits Your recompense,

    then grant us patience until the desired end is reached.