بنوك فديت يا أم البنينا — Amin Taqi Eddin

بنوكِ فُدِيتِ يا أمَّ البنينا

هُمُ أهلُ الوفا لو تعلَمينا

Your sons—may you be ransomed, O mother of sons—

Are people of loyalty, if only you knew.

دَعَوتِهمُ فلبَّينا كأنّا

رَجَعنا للصّبا لمَّا دُعينا

You called them, and we answered, as though

We had returned to youth when we were summoned.

أَحَبُّ مِن الكهولةِ وهي حق

خيالٌ للطُّفولة زار حينا

Dearer than middle age, though that is real,

Is a vision of childhood that visited for a while.

وأشهى من ليالي الحبّ عيدٌ

نَظمتِ به بَنِيكِ المُخلصينا

And sweeter than nights of love is a celebration

In which you gathered your devoted sons.

كَسَاه الله نوراً من سَناه

وطوَّفَ حولَه الروحَ الأمينا

God clothed it in light from His radiance,

And made the Faithful Spirit circle around it.

قفي نسألْكِ عن تلك المعاني

وعن عَبثِ الزمانِ بِنا سَلينا

Pause; let us ask you about those meanings,

And ask us how time has toyed with us.

صِباكِ وأنتِ في الخمسين غضٌّ

وشابَ بنوك دون الأربعينا

Your youth is fresh, though you are fifty,

While your sons have gone gray before forty.

أما واللهِ ما هانوا ولكن

نَزَلنا للجِهادِ مُغامرينا

Indeed, by God, they have not weakened; rather,

We entered the struggle, braving its dangers.

نجاهدُ للحياة ونزدَريها

وتُجهِدنا وما إن تزدرينا

We struggle for life, yet disdain it,

And it exhausts us, yet does not disdain us.

وما الدنيا سوى حربٍ ضروسٍ

وَجَدَت سلاحها علماً ودينا

The world is nothing but a fierce war

That has found its weapon in knowledge and faith.

بهذين استعِدًّ لها وحارِبْ

تحاربْ في صفوف الغالبينا

Prepare yourself for it with these two, and fight:

You will fight in the ranks of the victors.

إذا أعدَدْت نفسَك للمعالي

فأعدِدْ في الصبا الخُلُقَ المتينا

If you prepare yourself for lofty attainments,

Then cultivate steadfast character in youth.

أجلُّ العلمِ تربيةُ المبادي

كذا علّمتِنا وكذا رَبِينا

The noblest knowledge is the nurturing of principles;

So you taught us, and so we grew up.

سلي الدنيا كان بنوكِ فيها

سِوى المتنوّفين النابغينا

Ask the world: were your sons in it

Anything but the outstanding and gifted?

وما فَضَلُوا سواهم غير أنّا

تعلّمْنا كذلك أنْ نكونا

They surpassed others only because we

Learned, likewise, to be so.

ضمِنْتِ لنا السعادةَ يومَ كنا

بِظِلّكِ إِخوةً متضامنينا

You guaranteed us happiness when we were

Brothers beneath your shade, standing together.

إذا وطنيةٌ باهَتْ بقومٍ

غَدَا لبنانُ أَرفعَهُم جبينا

Whenever patriotism boasts of a people,

Lebanon stands with its brow highest among them.

أشدُّ الحب ما يُدعى هياماً

فما يدعى أذا بلغ الجنونا

The fiercest love is what is called infatuation;

What, then, is it called when it reaches madness?

سلي أُمَّ اللغاتِ فكل قُطْر

فتحناه لها الفتحَ المُبينا

Ask the mother of tongues: every land,

We conquered it for her in a manifest conquest.

أقمنا مجدها أَنًّى أَقمنا

وكنّا دونَه الحُصنَ الحَصينا

We established her glory wherever we dwelt,

And in its defense we were an impregnable fortress.

متى ذُكِرَ البيانُ لنا جميلاً

ذكرنا شيخه الفذَّ الرَّصينا

Whenever eloquence is praised in our hearing,

We recall its peerless, dignified master.

وقى الأقلام عثرتها فسِرنا

على دربِ الفصاحة آمنينا

He kept pens from stumbling, and so we walked

Safely on the path of eloquence.

كأنَّ المجدَ أثقلَ كاهِلَيهِ

وناء بحمله فمشى رَزينا

As though glory had weighed down his shoulders,

And he labored under its load, and so walked gravely.

فما السبعونَ تُحنيه ولكن

هي العظماتُ ندعوها سنينا

It is not seventy years that bend him, but

The great achievements that we call years.

قِفي أمَّ البنين وحدّثينا

أحاديث الصّبا لو تَذكُرينا

Pause, mother of sons, and tell us

Stories of youth, if you remember.

بنوكِ اليومَ صورتُنا قديماً

فما اختلفَتْ حياةُ الطالبينا

Your sons today are the image of what we once were;

The life of students has not changed.

ونحن مِثالُهم لغدٍ فقولي

لهم أن يقرَأوا الأيامَ فينا

And we are their image for tomorrow; so tell

Them to read the days in us.

لعلّ غداً يلاقيهم بخيرٍ

فشَرُّ اليومِ أقبحُ ما لَقينا

Perhaps tomorrow will greet them with good;

For today's evil is the ugliest we have encountered.

نريد لقومِنا وَطَنا عزيزاً

ويأبى الجهلُ إلاّ أن يهونا

We want for our people a dignified homeland,

But ignorance insists that it be debased.

لا ليتَ المكارمَ كنَّ صُمّاً

فلم يسمعن في الشوف الأنينا

No—would that noble virtues were deaf,

So they would not have heard the groaning in the Chouf.

تَطاعَنَ أهلُهُ عبثاً وعفواً

ولستُ أرى سوى الوطنِ الطعينا

Its people stabbed one another, pointlessly and heedlessly,

Yet I see only the homeland wounded.

أشبَّاناً نبشّر بالتآخي

وشِيباً نَستثير الجاهلينا

Do we preach brotherhood as youths,

And as graybeards stir up the ignorant?

أبيتِ اللعن لم تخذلكِ إنّا

تخاذلْنا أمام الأكثرينا

May you be beyond reproach! You were not let down; we

Let one another down before the majority.

وَعَظْنا القومَ لو عقَلوا ولكن

عَصانا الداءُ مذ أمسى دفينا

We admonished the people—if only they had understood—but

The malady defied us once it had become deep-seated.

ذَرِينا والخطوبَ فقد أتينا

لعيدِك رغم ذاك مهنّئينا

Leave us with our calamities, for we have come

To your celebration, despite that, offering congratulations.

أبوك أَجَلَّه التاريخ ذكراً

وأكبَرَ فيه فضلَ الوالدينا

Your father—history held his memory in reverence,

And honored in him the excellence of parenthood.

بَنَى الأخلاقَ في لبنانَ لما

بناكِ فكان خيرَ المصلحينا

He built character in Lebanon when

He built you, and was the finest of reformers.

يمين الله إذ لولا القوافي

لقُلنا القولَ لم نُقسم يمينا

By God—for were it not for the rhymes,

We would have spoken these words without swearing an oath:

حياتكِ نعمةُ الدنيا علينا

إذاً عيشي مع الدنيا مِئينا

Your life is the world's blessing upon us;

Then live on with the world for hundreds of years.