أيهاذا الجبلُ الملهم سحرا

أهُدًى ترسِلُ أم توقِدُ جمرا

O this inspiring mountain

Sending enchantment or kindling embers

ربَّ ذكرى آلمت ثم شفت

فهي كالوردةِ أشواكاً ونشرا

Lord, a memory has pained then healed

Thus is the rose - thorns and blossoms

طفتَ بالماضي فكم لامستَ في

جوّه نجماً وكم لاقيتَ نَسرا

You sailed the past - how much you touched

A star in its air, how much you met an eagle

أأغانٍ هي آناً نشوةٌ

وهي آناً عِظَةٌ تعقب ذكرى

Are they songs - instant delight

And they are - a lesson tracks memory

حارتِ الدنيا كما حرْنا بها

عَمْرَكَ الله أتاريخاً وَفَقْرا

The world was confused as we were in it

May God prolong your life - history and destitution

ليتَ مَن أَلهمك الشعرَ قَضى

أنْ يكونَ المجدُ في الأمةِ ِشِعرا

If only who inspired you poetry decreed

That glory be in the nation - poetry

وَطَني لو برَّ أهلوه بهِ

كان بالله وبالدنيا أبراً

My homeland, had its people acted decently

It would have, by God and the world, been righteous

لقي الحربَ ولاقته فَلَمْ

تزهُهُ صُغرى ولم يأبهْ لكبرى

It faced war and encountered it, so

Minor ones did not alarm it nor did major ones

ومشى والدهرَ ليلاً وضحى

وتلاقى والمُنى دُهماً وزُهرا

And it walked - night and day

And encountered misfortune - dim and bright

شَدَّ ما ذاقَ وقاسى فرأى

خِدَعَ الآمالِ أقسى وأمرّا

However much it tasted and endured, it saw

Hopes' guile bitterer and more intense

طافَ في عينيه حُلمٌ ولَدُنْ

فُتِحت عيناه كان الحلمُ مُرّا

A dream was born in its eyes yet when

Its eyes opened, the dream was bitter

تَجْمَعُ الساسةَ أو تَفرُقُهم

مائداتٌ جَمَعَت خيراً وشرا

Politicians gather or disperse them

Tables gathered good and evil

كنَّ باسم السيف حُمراً من دمٍ

واستحلنَ اليومَ باسمِ السلم خُضرا

They were, in the sword’s name, red from blood

And legitimized today, in the name of peace, the green

سائلِ الحقَّ هل الحقُّ سوى

دولةٍ قاهرةٍ بالسيفِ أخرى

Asking truth: Is truth other than

A conquering state then another by the sword

إن ملكْتَ القوم فاملِكْ قلبهم

عَبَثاً تملِكُ حُبَّ الناس قَسْرا

If you possess the people, then possess their hearts

Futilely you possess people’s love by force

يا أخي الشاعرَ غنَّيتَ على

نَغَم الأوتار أَمجاداً وفخرا

My brother poet you sang

To the rhythm of strings glories and pride

خذ جذوعَ الأرز مزماراً وقُمْ

فأَفِقْنا إن في الآذانِ وَقْرا

Take the cedars’ trunks as a flute and stand

So awaken us if there is heaviness in the ears

هل دَرى القادرُ في قُدرَتِه

أنَّ عبد الأمسِِ صار اليومَ حُرّاً

Does the Able in His Ability know

That yesterday’s slave became free today

غنّ نشءَ اليومِ تبعثْه غداً

إنَّ لليل وإن طالَ لفجرا

Sing today’s newborn - make it tomorrow

The night, however long, has dawn