1. أَميرَ الشِعرِ لا نورٌ وَحقُّ

    وَلكِن سوءُ مُنقَلَبٍ وَخَرقُ

    Prince of Poetry, this is no light or justice,

    but an evil outcome and folly.

  2. إِذا أَيَّدتَهم أَيَّدتَ حَقّاً

    أَبي تَأييدَهُ شَرفٌ وَخُلقُ

    If you supported them, you supported a ‘right’

    that honor and virtue refused to endorse.

  3. أَميرَ الشِعرِ وَالثَوراتُ تَرقى

    عَلى نُظُمٍ يُمَهِّدُها الحقُ

    Prince of Poetry, revolutions rise

    upon systems that justice prepares;

  4. وَلا تَرقى عَلى مُهَجِ الأَيامى

    فَإِنَّ دَمَ الأَيامى لا يحقُّ

    and do not rise upon widows' lifeblood,

    for shedding widows' blood is not lawful.

  5. أَباحوا في القِتالِ دَمَ النَصارى

    وَفي أَجفانِهِم لِلبغضِ وَدقُ

    They sanctioned Christians' bloodshed in battle,

    and in their eyelids was a rain of hatred.

  6. وَما رَفَقوا بِأَيتامٍ صغارٍ

    فَجازوهُم بِما لَم يَستَحقوا

    And they showed no kindness to little orphans,

    so they repaid them with what they did not deserve.

  7. وَقالوا نَهضَة الأَوطانِ تَقضي

    وَعاثوا في بِلادِهِم وَشَقّوا

    And they said, ‘The homelands' awakening demands it,’

    and wreaked havoc in their lands and tore them apart.

  8. وَقِدرُ الدينِ في الجَهّالِ تَغلي

    وَلم يُسمَع لِطَبل الدينِ طَرقُ

    And religion's cauldron boils among the ignorant,

    and no beating of religion's drum was heard.

  9. أَتَحتَرِمُ الحُقوقَ وَفي فَضاها

    من الأَحقادِ زَوبَعَةٌ وَبَرقُ

    Do you respect rights, while in their sky

    are a whirlwind and lightning born of hatreds,

  10. وَفي راياتِها لَهفُ اليَتامى

    لَهُ في كُلِّ ثانِيَتَين خَفقُ

    and in their banners the orphans' anguish

    flutters every two seconds?

  11. أَلإستِقلالُ يَنمو بِالتَآخي

    وَيَضمر بِالشقاقِ وَيستدقُّ

    Independence grows through brotherhood,

    and shrinks through discord, dwindling thin.

  12. وَبِالحُبِّ الصَحيحِ يشيدُ صَرحاً

    أَساسُ خُلودِهِ شَرفٌ وَصِدقُ

    And through true love it builds an edifice

    whose foundation for eternity is honor and sincerity.

  13. أَلَسنا في الهمومِ أولي اِتِّفاقٍ

    فَلِم لا يَنتحِيا اليَومَ وفقُ

    Are we not of one accord in our worries?

    Then why does concord not come our way today?

  14. وَلم يَسعى إِلى التَفريقِ قومٌ

    يوحّدُ بَينَهُم وَطَنٌ وَنُطقُ

    And why do people strive for division,

    when a homeland and a tongue unite them?

  15. أَعادوا سوءَةَ الماضي بِنزقٍ

    وَلم يَنبِض لَهُم في الحُبِّ عِرقُ

    They revived the shame of the past in rashness,

    and no vein of love pulsed in them.

  16. كَأَنَّهُم أَرادوا نَفيَ رقٍّ

    بِجَهلٍ فيهِ لِلأَوطانِ رِقُ

    As though they sought to banish bondage

    through ignorance that brings bondage to the homelands.

  17. كِلانا شاعِرٌ بِالظُلمِ يَرثي

    بِلاداً بِالمَظالِمِ تسترقُ

    Each of us is a poet who mourns, amid oppression,

    lands enslaved by injustices.

  18. وَنَحنُ نؤيِّدُ الثوراتِ لكِن

    نَخُطِّئُها إِذا هيَ لا تَرُقُ

    And we support revolutions, but

    we judge them wrong when they show no compassion.

  19. أَميرَ الشِعرِ حَسبُ دِمَشقَ حُزنٌ

    بِأَنَّ جنانِها يبسٌ وَطرقُ

    Prince of Poetry, Damascus has sorrow enough

    in its gardens being parched and battered.

  20. فَأَزهرُها من الأَرزاءِ صَفرٌ

    وَأَنهرُها من الأَهوالِ بلقُ

    So its flowers are yellowed by calamities,

    and its rivers are piebald with horrors.

  21. وَما في الغَوطتين سِوى زَفير

    يصعِّدُهُ مِن الآلامِ عُمقُ

    And in the two Ghoutas there is nothing but sighing

    that the depth of suffering sends upward.

  22. وَما في الجامِعِ الأَمَوِيِّ إِلّا

    صُراخٌ من تَفَجُّعِهِ وَشَهقُ

    And in the Umayyad Mosque there is only

    a cry from its anguish, and sobbing.

  23. كَأَنَّ الجِنَّ تَخطُرُ في دُجاه

    وَفي جنباتِهِ لِلبومِ نعقُ

    As though the jinn were pacing through its darkness,

    and in its recesses is the hooting of owls.

  24. وَأَجفانُ السُموأَلِ فيهِ تَبكي

    وَأَدمُعِها شكاياتٌ وَعِشقُ

    And al-Samaw'al's eyelids weep within it,

    and their tears are complaints and love.

  25. أَلا أَينَ الخَرائِبُ من قُصورٍ

    لَها بِمَذاهِبِ الآفاقِ سبقُ

    Ah, how far these ruins are from palaces

    that led the way along the paths of the horizons!

  26. وَأَينَ من السُمُوِّ جلالُ نَسق

    هَوى رِضماً فَما بِدِمشقَ نَسقُ

    And where is the sublime majesty of order,

    fallen in rubble—no order remains in Damascus?

  27. وَأَينَ مَعاهِدُ الآثارِ فيها

    وَأَينَ الحُسنُ وَالفَنُّ الأَدقُ

    And where are the sites of antiquity within it?

    And where are beauty and the most exquisite art?

  28. جَلائِلُ كُنَّ في الماضي مزاراً

    جُموعُ حجيجِهِ خُلقُ فَخُلقُ

    Majestic monuments, once a place of pilgrimage,

    with throngs of pilgrims, generation after generation,

  29. مطهَّرة العُصور بَغى عَلَيها

    حَزازاتٌ من التَدنيسِ حُمقُ

    hallowed through the ages, were assailed

    by rancors, foolish in their desecration.

  30. عَلى مَن تَبعة الآثامِ تُلقى

    وَكُلُّ هَوىً يَقولُ أَنا المُحقُ

    Upon whom is the burden of sins laid,

    when every passion says, ‘I am in the right’?

  31. غَمزَت إِباءَهم فَمَضى حَقوداً

    وَضَجَّت مِن صَغارَتِهِ دِمَشقُ

    Their pride was stung, and it grew vindictive,

    and Damascus cried out at its pettiness.

  32. وَلَو عَقلوا لَحرَّرهم نِظامٌ

    عَلى أَبوابِ حَقِّهِمِ يدقُ

    And had they used reason, a system would have freed them,

    knocking at the doors of their rights.

  33. تخذتَ الشِعرَ لِلإِصلاحِ مرقىً

    فَهل أَصلَحتَ خُلقَهُم لِيَشقوا

    You took poetry as a stairway to reform;

    so did you reform their character so they might suffer?

  34. وَهَل عَلَّمتَهُم رميَ القَوافي

    لِيَرموا بِاليَتيمِ وَليسَ رِفقُ

    And did you teach them to cast rhymes

    so they might cast the orphan aside, with no kindness?

  35. سَلِ الأَهرامَ يا اِبنَ المَجدِ عَنّا

    يُجِبكَ الدَمعُ وَالنَفسُ الأَرقُ

    Ask the Pyramids about us, O son of glory;

    tears and the tenderest soul will answer you.

  36. فَفي الأَهرامِ يا شَوقي بَقايا

    مِنَ النسبِ المُؤَثَّلِ لا تَعُقُ

    For in the Pyramids, Shawqi, are remnants

    of deep-rooted kinship that does not forsake its own.

  37. وَفي النيلِ المُرَقرَقِ عاطِفاتٌ

    مَشى مِنها إِلى لُبنانَ رزقُ

    And in the shimmering Nile are affections

    from which sustenance journeyed to Lebanon.

  38. يَعزُّ عَلَيهِ أَن تَشقى بِلادٌ

    بِها من شيمَةِ الأَجيالِ عتقُ

    It cannot bear that lands should suffer

    whose generations bear an ancient nobility of character.

  39. أَلَستَ تَرى أُميَّة كَيف تَرنو

    إِلى لُبنانَ عَن مُقلٍ تُشقُ

    Do you not see how Umayya gazes

    toward Lebanon through eyes torn apart?

  40. وَكلٌّ مِنهُما يَهوي بِنَزعٍ

    وَفي دَمِعِ من الأَهوالِ حَرقُ

    And each of them falls in its death throes,

    and their tears burn with horrors.

  41. وَلِلمُستَقبَلِ الآتي عَجيجٌ

    عَلى قَدَمَيهِ لِلأَوطانِ زَهقُ

    And the coming future has a clamor;

    at its feet lies death for the homelands.

  42. أَميرَ الشِعرِ حَسبُ الشِعرِ فَخرٌ

    بِأَنَّ لماكَ لِلإيحاءِ فَتقُ

    Prince of Poetry, poetry has pride enough

    that your dusky lips are an opening for inspiration.

  43. أَنا مُصغٍ إِلى قَطَراتِ سِحرٍ

    لَها من شِعرِكَ العَلويِّ دَفقُ

    I listen to drops of magic

    that flow from your lofty poetry.

  44. أَلا هَذِّب شَبابَ الشَرقِ هَذِّب

    لِيَرقى مَوطِنٌ لَهُمُ وَيَرقوا

    Ah, refine the youth of the East—refine them,

    so their homeland may rise, and they may rise.

  45. وَقُل لَهُم أَخاكُم فَاِعضدوهُ

    تَنالوا المَقصَدَ السامي وَتَبقوا

    And tell them, ‘Your brother—stand by him;

    you will reach the lofty goal and endure.’