كرروا البشرى مرة بعد مرة — Ibrahim Al Khalifa

كرروا البشرى مرةً بعد مرة

بين كل الورى بأفصح نبره

Repeat the glad tidings, time after time,

among all humankind, in the clearest tones.

كرروُها على المسامع كي ما

يتوقى ببردها القلبُ حره

Repeat them to listening ears, so that

their coolness may shield the heart from its heat.

وأذيعوا في الخافقين صداها

يذرعُ البرَّ ثم يجتازُ بحره

Broadcast their echo throughout East and West,

traversing the land, then crossing its sea.

وانثروا زهرها على الروض حتى

يتحلى بهِ وينظمَ زهره

Scatter their blossoms upon the meadow, until

it adorns itself with them and arrays its flowers.

وانفحوا الوردَ طيبها واجعلوهُ

ينتشي نفحهُ وينشقُ عطره

Imbue the rose with their fragrance, and let it

revel in its scent and breathe its perfume.

وأفيضوا ضياءَها وانشروهُ

وأروُنا في كل أفقٍ بدره

Pour forth their radiance and spread it,

and show us its full moon on every horizon.

تلك بشرى بالنفس تشرى وتسوى

لذتي باستماعها ألفَ بدره

These tidings are bought with one's life; and worth

a thousand purses is my delight in hearing them.

يقرأُ المرءُ آيها فيلاشي

متنها كربهُ ويشرحُ صدره

A person reads their verses; banishing

his anguish, their text opens his breast.

انها في جيد البشائر عقدٌ

بل أراها في العقد أنفسَ دُرَّه

On the neck of glad tidings they are a necklace;

rather, I see them as its most precious pearl.

انها للنفوس طيبٌ وللآ

ذان شنفٌ وللنواظر قره

They are perfume for souls, and for

the ears, an ornament; for the eyes, delight.

وجبينُ الآمال أصبح منها

زاهراً مشرقاً بأيمن غره

Through them the brow of hope has become

radiant, shining with the most auspicious gleam.

يتملى السوريُّ منها سروُراً

إِن يكتمهُ فهي تفشي سره

The Syrian savors the joy they bring;

if he conceals it, they disclose his secret.

ليس يقوى على بيان ابتهاجٍ

عمّ منها ولو قضى فيهِ عمره

He cannot express the rejoicing

they have spread, though he spend his lifetime on it.

تلك بشرى الانقاذ من ظلم قومٍ

جرعوا الشرق من أذاهم أمره

These are tidings of rescue from the tyranny of people

who made the East swallow the bitterest of their harm.

حكمُوا فيهِ كلَّ عبدٍ زنيمٍ

كان يُمضي بالسادةِ الغُرِ أمره

They set over it every baseborn slave,

who imposed his command upon illustrious lords,

ويسومُ العزيز ذلاً ويمني ال

حرَّ بالضيم وهو يصليهِ جمره

heaping humiliation on the mighty and afflicting the

free man with oppression, searing him with its embers.

تلك بشرى إطلاقهِ بعد ما ظ

ل قروناً يبكي ويشكو أسره

These are tidings of his release, after he had

spent centuries weeping and lamenting his captivity.

كل يومٍ على بنيهِ الالى جو

راً وظلماً غيلوا لهُ الفُ حسره

Each day, for his sons who were wrongfully

and unjustly murdered, a thousand pangs were his.

كم شهيد شنقاً قضى وفقيدٍ

ماتَ سجناً أو ذاق في النفي خسره

How many a martyr died by hanging, and how many a lost one

died in prison or tasted loss in exile;

وغنيٍّ فيه قضى الخسف لا يل

قى لدفع الطوَى من الخبز كسره

and many a rich man there suffered abasement, unable

to find a crust of bread to ward off hunger.

جاءهُ الغوث من لدنهُ تعالى

مُبدلاً بالرخاءِ واليسر عسره

Succor came to him from Him, the Exalted,

replacing his hardship with prosperity and ease.

وبجيش التحرير جيش اللنبي

خصَّ تأييده وآتاهُ نصره

And the army of liberation, Allenby's army,

He singled out for His support and granted His victory.

من فلسطين يوم كرّ اعترى الال

مانَ ذعرٌ وأكبرَ الترك كره

The day it charged from Palestine, the Germans

were gripped by terror, and the Turks were awed by its assault.

بمغاويرَ كلهم يخطفُ البر

قَ سناهُ ويسبق المرءَ فكره

With warriors, each of whose radiance outflashes

lightning, and whose thought outstrips a man.

والغشومُ المهتاض اذ هزموهُ

قوَّضوا عشهُ وهدُّوا وكره

And the crushed tyrant—when they defeated him,

they tore down his nest and demolished his lair.

أَسروا منهُ نحو تسعين ألفاً

وأذاقوهُ صاب أشأَمِ كسره

They took some ninety thousand of his men captive

and made him taste the bitter sap of a most disastrous defeat.

سنحت ثمَّ فرصةٌ لبنى العر

بِ فسدوا في الحرب أية ثغره

Then an opportunity arose for the sons of the

Arabs, and they closed every breach in the war.

قادهم ذلك الاميرُ ابن أسمى

والدٍ سليل أشرف أُسره

That prince led them, son of the most exalted

father, scion of the noblest house,

شاهراً بيمينهِ لسماهُ

فيصلٍ وكفاهُ صيتاً وشهره

brandishing in his right hand [apparently his namesake blade],

Faisal—enough to bring him renown and fame.

هبّ لما الاتراكُ جهلاً اباهُ

أغضبوهُ واستنفدوا منهُ صبره

He rose when the Turks, in their ignorance,

angered his father and exhausted his patience.

ومن الحُمق أن ترومَ اقتحام ال

غارِ جهراً ولا تبالي هزبره

It is folly to seek to storm the

cave openly, heedless of its lion.

وشمالاً مما جنوب معانٍ

سارَ شرقَ الأُردُنِّ يحمي عبره

Northward, from south of Ma'an,

he marched east of the Jordan, guarding its bank,

زاحفاً عن يمين جيش اللنبي

وهو يقفو في الفتح والضَّم إِثره

advancing on the right of Allenby's army,

following in its wake in conquest and annexation.

وكلا الجحفلين أوغل يفري

سهل ذاك القفر السحيق ووعره

Both great armies pushed deep, cleaving

the level and rugged ground of that distant wilderness.

والعدوُّ المذعورُ يهربُ منهم

جاعلاً عذرهُ عن الفرِّ ذُعره

The terrified enemy fled before them,

making his terror his excuse for flight.

وبشهرٍ ونصف شهرٍ رأينا

هم أتموا كسر العدو وقهره

In a month and a half, we saw

them complete the enemy's defeat and subjugation.

والقرى والضياعُ والمدن والسُّ

كان طرا وقاهم الله غدره

The villages, estates, cities, and their

inhabitants, all—God shielded them from his treachery.

وبمنِ الباري وفضل اللنبي

لُسنهم في اعترافها مستمرَّه

And the Creator's bounty and Allenby's favor

their tongues never cease to acknowledge.

ذلك القائد الذي سوف يُحيي

شرقُنا ذكرهُ ويُعلي قدره

That commander whose memory

our East will keep alive, and whose standing it will exalt.

وفلسطين مع شقيقتها الشا

م عليه تثني وتعلن شكره

Palestine, with her sister al-Sham,

praises him and proclaims her thanks.

والى الأحلاف الاماجد تطوي

مدحها والنسيم يسرقُ نشره

And to the noble Allies she dispatches

her praise, while the breeze steals its fragrance.

أنقذوها من ظالم هي كانت

أمَةً عندهُ فصارت حره

They rescued her from a tyrant; she had been

his slave, and became free.

ظالمٍ شرُّهُ بها كاد يودي

فكفاها محررُوها شره

A tyrant whose evil nearly destroyed her,

but her liberators spared her his evil.

خلصوها منه وردُّوا اليه

كيدهُ فانثنى مصيباً نحره

They delivered her from him and turned back upon him

his scheming, which recoiled and struck his own throat.

وأعادت وساكنوها مراراً

ما تغنّت به الملائكُ مرَّه

She and her inhabitants repeated, time and again,

what the angels once sang:

في الاعالي لله حمدٌ وفي الار

ضِ سلامٌ وفي الأنام مسرَّه

Praise to God in the highest, and on

earth, peace, and joy among humankind.