من مبلغٌ وطني الحبيب تلُّهفي

من مبلغٌ وطني الحبيب تلُّهفي

للقائه كتأسفي للقائه

للقائه كتأسفي للقائه

Who will tell my beloved homeland of my longing

I am a messenger for my beloved homeland

to meet it, like my sorrow at meeting it?

Yearning to meet it like a thirsty man yearning for water

لَّج الحنينُ وما عرفتُ بهجرتي

لَّج الحنينُ وما عرفتُ بهجرتي

أن استخفَّ بعنفهِ وزكائه

أن استخفَّ بعنفهِ وزكائه

Longing grew insistent; away from home, I never learned

Longing has worn me down, though in my exile

to make light of its force and its ardor.

I did not know it could be so violently cruel

وطني الذي رُبِّيتُ تحت سمائه

وطني الذي رُبِّيتُ تحت سمائه

ووهبتهُ فني نجومَ سمائِه

ووهبتهُ فني نجومَ سمائِه

My homeland, beneath whose sky I was raised,

My homeland where I was raised under its skies

and to which I gave my art as stars for its sky;

And where it gifted me the stars in its skies

ورضعتُ من أزهاره وسكرتُ من

ورضعتُ من أزهاره وسكرتُ من

أسماره وشربتُ من أضوائه

أسماره وشربتُ من أضوائه

and suckled from its flowers, and grew drunk on

Where I suckled on its flowers, got drunk on

its evening conversations, and drank of its lights;

Its nectar, and drank in its lights

من ليس بَعدِ له سوى حِّبي له

من ليس بَعدِ له سوى حِّبي له

حبَّاً تشرَّد كاليتيمِ التائه

حبَّاً تشرَّد كاليتيمِ التائه

which now has nothing but my love for it—

One who now has nothing left but my devotion

a love that wandered homeless, like a lost orphan;

A devotion that wanders like a lost orphan

من عنده الخبزُ القفارُ ولائمٌ

من عنده الخبزُ القفارُ ولائمٌ

وولائمُ الأرواح ملءُ رُوائهِ

وولائمُ الأرواح ملءُ رُوائهِ

for which plain bread is a banquet,

One whose barren bread is a feast

and whose beauty brims with feasts for the soul;

And a feast for souls fills its air

من طالما غنيتُ في افيائه

من طالما غنيتُ في افيائه

بروءاى حين سجنتُ في أفيائه

بروءاى حين سجنتُ في أفيائه

in whose shade I so often sang

One I have long sung praise to in its meadows

of my visions, when I was imprisoned in its shade;

When I was imprisoned in its meadows

من لم يمكني لأرفعَ مجدّه

من لم يمكني لأرفعَ مجدّه

ولواءه وخذلتُ تحت لوائه

ولواءه وخذلتُ تحت لوائه

which did not enable me to raise its glory

One who did not allow me to raise its glory

and its banner, while I was forsaken beneath its banner;

And banner, though I failed beneath its banner

من لم ينهنه زجره جهدِي له

من لم ينهنه زجره جهدِي له

وأنا المكبل في مديد بلائه

وأنا المكبل في مديد بلائه

whose rebuke did not restrain my striving for it,

One whose rebuke did not stop my struggle for it

while I lay shackled in its prolonged affliction;

While I am shackled in the grip of its ordeal

من ظلَّ لا يجد الثمالَ سوى الألى

من ظلَّ لا يجد الثمالَ سوى الألى

خانوه واعتبروا مناطَ رجائهِ

خانوه واعتبروا مناطَ رجائهِ

which kept finding no succor except in those

One who still finds traitors to be its only friends

who betrayed it and were deemed the mainstay of its hope;

After they betrayed it and dashed its hopes

من لا يبالي أن يُشاهدَ أهله

من لا يبالي أن يُشاهدَ أهله

يشقونَ والأبرارَ من شُهدائه

يشقونَ والأبرارَ من شُهدائه

which is indifferent as it watches its people

One who does not care to see its people suffering

suffer, along with the righteous among its martyrs;

And the innocent dying among its martyrs

من مكن الإقطاعَ من تقطيعه

من مكن الإقطاعَ من تقطيعه

وأباح عَّزتهُ رضىَّ سُفهائهِ

وأباح عَّزتهُ رضىَّ سُفهائهِ

which enabled feudalism to carve it up,

One who allowed feudal lords to carve it up

and surrendered its dignity to please its fools;

And permitted its dignity to satisfy fools

من لم يَصن تاريخه بفعاله

من لم يَصن تاريخه بفعاله

وهَوتَ زعامتهُ لدى زُعمائه

وهَوتَ زعامتهُ لدى زُعمائه

which did not protect its history through its deeds,

One whose leaders did not preserve its history

and whose leadership sank low among its leaders;

And so its leadership collapsed among its leaders

من عفَّرَ الرأسَ المنّزه في الثرى

من عفَّرَ الرأسَ المنّزه في الثرى

للفاسقين الصُّمِّ من رؤسائه

للفاسقين الصُّمِّ من رؤسائه

which rubbed its unsullied head in the dust

One who dragged the honored head through the dirt

before the deaf, depraved men among its rulers.

To appease the deaf tyrants among its chieftains

كُنَّا نُرجِّى الأمسَ صِدقَ بلائهم

كُنَّا نُرجِّى الأمسَ صِدقَ بلائهم

فغدوا رزيئتهُ وسرَّ بلائه

فغدوا رزيئتهُ وسرَّ بلائه

Yesterday we hoped for sincerity in their service,

Yesterday we hoped their affliction was sincere

but they became its calamity and the secret of its affliction—

But today they are its disgrace and secret affliction

من كلِّ أرعنَ لا يصِّعرُ خَدِّهُ

من كلِّ أرعنَ لا يصِّعرُ خَدِّهُ

إلا وتلطمه أحُّط نسائه

إلا وتلطمه أحُّط نسائه

each a reckless fool who never turns his cheek in scorn

One where every debased lout does not blush

without the basest of his women slapping him.

Unless slapped by the lowliest of its women

ينضىِ الركائبَ في الطِّلاب لشهوةٍ

ينضىِ الركائبَ في الطِّلاب لشهوةٍ

ولِضمِّ أهواءٍ إلى أهوائه

ولِضمِّ أهواءٍ إلى أهوائه

He wears out the riding camels in pursuit of a lust,

Who trots out student followers out of lust

and to add desires to his desires;

And to gratify the whims among its cravings

ويخال صَخبَ الموبقاتِ حيا لهُ

ويخال صَخبَ الموبقاتِ حيا لهُ

إعجابَ من عَانوا من استهزائه

إعجابَ من عَانوا من استهزائه

and mistakes the clamor of ruinous sins before him for

And thinks the clamor of debauchery gives him life

admiration from those who suffered his mockery.

Admired by those who suffered his mockery

أسفىِ على المُلكِ المذالِ وطالما

أسفىِ على المُلكِ المذالِ وطالما

حامت قلوبٌ حوله لفدائه

حامت قلوبٌ حوله لفدائه

My sorrow for the debased realm! How often

I grieve for the disgraced kingdom, though hearts

hearts hovered around it, to sacrifice themselves for it!

Once hovered around it ready to sacrifice

كنا نلوذُ به ليوم كريهةٍ

كنا نلوذُ به ليوم كريهةٍ

فإذا بنا ما شاءَ من أشلائه

فإذا بنا ما شاءَ من أشلائه

We used to seek refuge in it against a day of adversity,

We took refuge in it for a wretched day

only to find ourselves whatever it willed—fragments of its torn body.

Only to find ourselves among its wreckage

أسفى وكم يَطغَى الحنينُ كأنني

أسفى وكم يَطغَى الحنينُ كأنني

عبدٌ وإن حِّررتُ بين إمائه

عبدٌ وإن حِّررتُ بين إمائه

Alas! How longing overwhelms me, as though I were

I grieve - how longing surges like I'm a slave

a slave—even though freed—among its bondwomen.

Though I was freed among its handmaidens

ولربما كان النساءُ بأرضهش

ولربما كان النساءُ بأرضهش

هُنَّ الرجالَ وكنَّ من أدوائه

هُنَّ الرجالَ وكنَّ من أدوائه

And perhaps the women in its land were

Perhaps its women were the men of the land

the men themselves, and were among its maladies.

And were the cures among its remedies

كم عابثٍ يرثى لحالي ساخراً

كم عابثٍ يرثى لحالي ساخراً

وهو الأحُّق بسخره ورثائه

وهو الأحُّق بسخره ورثائه

How many a trifler pities my plight, mocking,

How many scornful mock my state, laughing,

though he is more deserving of his own mockery and pity.

When they most deserve its mockery and elegy

والشعبُ إن باع الكرامةَ صاغراً

والشعبُ إن باع الكرامةَ صاغراً

أو فاجراً فبقاؤه كفنائه

أو فاجراً فبقاؤه كفنائه

And if a people sells its dignity, abjectly

If a people sells its dignity fearful or wanton

or wickedly, its survival is the same as its extinction.

Then its survival is like its own funeral