1. يا جارةَ البحرِ العظيمِ سُؤالا

    أَشأَوْتِ جَارَك أَمْ شآك جلالا

    O neighbor of the mighty sea, a question:

    Have you surpassed your neighbor, or has he surpassed you in grandeur?

  2. صنوانِ إمّا عشتما ورحِبتما

    لو لم يَضِق عمَّا وسعتِ مجالا

    You two would be peers in life and breadth,

    were his reach not too narrow for all you encompass.

  3. قومي نساجلْ في الفَخار ونحتكمْ

    للدهر أذ كان الفَخار سِجالا

    Rise; let us vie in glory and appeal

    to time, since glory is won by turns.

  4. يطغَى فيدفع ضلّةً أمواجه

    وصفوتِ لم يترك هُداك ضَلالا

    He overflows, thrusting his waves forth blindly;

    and you grew clear; your guidance left no room for error.

  5. نقل النهى معْ موجه ونقلتِها

    بتموجاتٍ في الأثير تتالى

    He carried reason with his waves, and you conveyed it

    through successive undulations in the ether.

  6. وهدى رجال فِنِيقِيا سبل العُلى

    وبعثتِنا في العالمين رجالا

    And he guided the men of Phoenicia along the paths of eminence,

    and you sent us forth as men among the world's peoples.

  7. هو في القديم سمت به أفعاله

    وأراك أَسمى في الجديد فَعالا

    In the past, his deeds raised him high,

    and I see you loftier in deeds in this new age.

  8. ما العز للباقي على أمجاده

    كالعز للماضِي بها استرسالا

    The honor of one who rests upon his glories is not

    like the honor of one who advances with them unceasingly.

  9. يا جبرُ والجار العظيم كما ترى

    أيٌّ أجلُّ على الزمان نوالا

    O Jabr, with that mighty neighbor in view,

    which is nobler in gifts throughout time?

  10. هي أكبّرتْكَ فَمَثَّلَتْ بك مجدَها

    إذ كنتَ للقلب الكبيرِ مِثالا

    She held you in honor and embodied her glory in you,

    for you were an image of a great heart.

  11. ولو أنه راعى الجوارَ وحقَّه

    هدى لآلِئَه إِليكًَ وغالى

    And had he honored neighborliness and its due,

    he would have offered you his pearls and given lavishly.

  12. ليس الجمالُ بلؤلؤ يُزهى به

    الشيبُ أبهى في الرؤوس جمالا

    Beauty does not lie in pearls one boasts of;

    gray hair is more beautiful upon the head.

  13. والدرّ أسنى منه في لألائِه

    نَفْسٌ كنفسك بالهدى تتلالا

    And brighter than pearls in their luster

    is a soul like yours, shining with guidance.

  14. عِظَمٌ وقفتَ خلالها ونحوتها

    عِظماً فكنتم في العُلى أمثالا

    You stood amid greatness and sought to match it

    in greatness; thus you all became peers in eminence.

  15. أنتم ثلاثة أبحُرٍ بَعُدت مدىً

    هِيَ وَهْوَ أمجاداً وأنتَ كمالا

    You are three seas, far-reaching in extent:

    she and he in glory, and you in perfection.

  16. طالعتُ أيامي وطُفتُ بساحها

    أبغي شَبابي يَمنَةً وشمالا

    I surveyed my days and roamed their grounds,

    seeking my youth to the right and to the left.

  17. قَسَماً بضاحِكَة المنُى وعهودِها

    لم أَلقَ إلاّ ما دعَوه خيالا

    I swear by smiling hopes and their promises:

    I found nothing but what they called illusion.

  18. إني أفقت مِن الصّبى فإذا الصبى

    ذِكرى مُنىً زالت وعهدٍ زالا

    I awoke from youth, and behold, youth was

    a memory of vanished hopes and a vanished time.

  19. أشهى لديَّ من الشباب وعَودِهِ

    أدبٌ نشأتُ به فصار خِلالا

    Dearer to me than youth and its return

    is the refinement I grew up with, which became my character.

  20. أنا إن نسِيتُ الرائعاتِ من الصّبى

    لم أنسَ فيها العالِم المفضالا

    Even if I forget the marvels of my youth,

    I have not forgotten the generous scholar among them:

  21. الشيخَ إن شئت الرجالَ لعلمهم

    والطفلَ إن شئت الرجالَ خصالا

    an elder, if you judge men by their learning,

    and a child, if you judge men by their character.

  22. لو كافأتْ أمّ اللغاتِ جهادَه

    في نفعها ضَرَبَتْ به الأمثالا

    Had the mother of languages rewarded his striving

    in her service, she would have held him up as an example.

  23. أفشى لنا سرَّ البلاغة علمُهُ

    بعضُ الذي يُفشي يكون حلالا

    His learning revealed to us the secret of eloquence;

    some of what he divulges is lawful.

  24. نَهَج الزمانُ جديده فانهجْ بِنا

    لُغةً تُشاكل من زمانك حالا

    Time has taken its new path; lead us, then,

    in a language that matches the temper of your age.

  25. عرضَ اللغات أًولها من صانه

    فليمضِ تجديداَ وينعم بالا

    As for the honor of languages, entrust them to whoever guarded it;

    so let him pursue renewal and be at peace.

  26. إِنّا لفي زمنٍ كأنَّ أديبه

    حسِبَ البيان مجانةً ودلالا

    Indeed, we are in an age whose man of letters seems

    to take eloquence for frivolity and affectation.

  27. الغمدُ أمسك بالفرِنْدِ فلم يَسِل

    والغمد أعياه فذاب وسالا

    The sheath held the blade fast, so it did not flow;

    and the sheath wore it down, so it melted and flowed.

  28. ليتَ الأُلى اتَّخذوا التجدُّدَ دأبَهم

    قالوا بما أُستاذنا قد قالا

    Would that those who made renewal their habit

    had said what our teacher has said.

  29. وطني وهذي الدارُ مأسدةٌ به

    فلطالما ولدت له الأشبالا

    My homeland—and this house is a lions' den within it,

    for she has so often borne it lion cubs—

  30. عرف الجميلَ فصانَهُ في قلبه

    وأباحها من نفسه الإجلالا

    recognized kindness and treasured it in its heart,

    and offered her reverence from its soul.

  31. مَن مبلغ الغربَ الجديدَ تحيةً

    ألشرقُ يُرسلها إليه مَقَالا

    Who will carry a greeting to the new West,

    which the East sends to it in words?

  32. إن الذين عَنُوا بنا من آله

    صاروا لنا يومَ المفاخر آلا

    Indeed, those of its people who cared for us

    became our kin on the day of glory.

  33. أعظمْ بهم قوماً كأنّ نفوسَهم

    خُلِقت لتخلُقَ مثلَها الأبطالا

    How great a people they are, as though their souls

    were created to create heroes like themselves!

  34. ألأسخياء بما حوت أيمانُهم

    فإذا عَدَاك العلمُ جئتَ المالا

    Generous with all their right hands hold,

    so if learning eludes you, you turn to wealth.

  35. يا بنتَ فاتنة الزمانِ بِعلمها

    عالى الزمان بها وليس تعالى

    O daughter of her who enchants the age with her learning,

    through her, the age rose high, but did not grow haughty.

  36. مشت النُّهى في رحب ساحِك حُرةً

    فمّا فككتِ عن النهى الأغلالا

    Reason walked freely through your spacious grounds;

    so you did not unfasten the fetters from reason.

  37. المستقلُّ بنفسه لك نفسُهُ

    أنتِ التي علمت الاستقلالا

    The self-reliant one's very soul is yours;

    you are the one who taught independence.

  38. عجبي لحاملة الصليب إلى الهدى

    إني حملت مع الصليب هلالا

    I marvel at her who bears the cross toward guidance:

    indeed, I bore a crescent alongside the cross.

  39. عوذت باسم العلم مجدك مِن أذىً

    يَصِم الكريم ويثلبُ الأفضالا

    I shielded your glory, in the name of learning, from harm

    that stains the noble and disparages good deeds.

  40. يا معمل الأخلاق حسبكِ إننا

    كنا لِما علّمتِنا عُمّالا

    O workshop of character, let it suffice you that we

    were workers practicing what you taught us.

  41. البحر جارُك لو قضى لكِ ذمةً

    وقضى لجبرٍ ذِمةً تتوالى

    If the sea, your neighbor, had honored his obligation to you,

    and honored an enduring obligation to Jabr,

  42. أعطاني الدرر الغوالي منحةً

    فصنعتُها لكليكُمَا تِمثالا

    he would have given me precious pearls as a gift,

    and I would have fashioned them into a statue for you both.