سلام على عهد الرقي المحبب

سلام على حزب الشباب المهذب

Peace upon the beloved age of progress.

Peace upon the party of cultivated youth.

واني محيّ للعروبة انها

قد استيقظت من نومها بعد احقب

And I salute Arabhood, for it

has awakened from its sleep after ages.

وقد اخذت تعدو لتبلغ غليها

برغم الرزايا والشقاء المخيب

It has begun to race toward its heights,

despite calamities and disheartening misery.

وان لابناء العراق تأهباً

ولا تكذب الآمال في المتأهب

The sons of Iraq stand ready,

and hopes do not fail those who stand ready.

لهم مأرب ان يدركوا شأو غيرهم

وان شط عنهم وهو افضل مأرب

Their aim is to attain the level of others,

however far beyond them—a most worthy aim.

فساره على فجر من الحق صادق

وليس على برق من الوعد خلب

So they journeyed by a true dawn of truth,

not by the rainless lightning of a promise.

ولا ادّعي انا بلغنا مرادنا

ولكننا فوق الطريق المقرب

I do not claim that we have reached our goal,

but we are on the road that brings us nearer.

فيا عين قري بالذي تشهدينه

ويا نفس قد ولى شقاؤك فاطربي

O eye, be gladdened by what you behold;

O soul, your misery has passed: rejoice!

واني لارجو للعراق تقدماً

يضاهي هبوب العاصف المتوثب

And I earnestly hope for Iraq's advance,

rivaling the onrush of a leaping gale.

ويحسب قوم في التعصب رشدهم

وما اخر الاقوام غير التعصب

Some people think their wisdom lies in fanaticism,

yet nothing has held peoples back but fanaticism.

وكنت ركبت الصعب ابلوه جاهداً

فما قل مجهودي ولا ذل مركبي

I had mounted the unruly steed, striving to test it;

my effort never waned, nor did my mount submit.

عشية ما في الرافدين سلامة

ولا العيش في كل العراق بطيب

In days when the land of the Two Rivers knew no safety,

nor was life pleasant anywhere in Iraq,

عشية لا عبد الحميد بسامع

دعائي ولا مني فروق بمقرب

in days when Abd al-Hamid would not hear

my plea, nor was Faruq near me.

وما كان ما تأتي الشعوب بثروة

ولكنه حمى الدم المتلهب

What the peoples brought forth was not wealth,

but the fever of inflamed blood.

ولم ننتفع بالعلم الا صبابة

تجرعها مثر بمشهد مترب

We gained from learning only a few drops,

gulped by a rich man while a pauper watched.

ويطرق سمعي اسم السعيد ولا ارى

بعيني سعيداً فهو عنقاء مغرب

The name of a happy man reaches my ears, yet I never see

a happy man with my own eyes—he is an elusive phoenix.

وما ذل قوم ابرموا وحدة لهم

وان لم يكونوا ينتمون الى اب

No people who forged their unity were ever humbled,

even if they did not descend from one father.

ولا اوجسوا ممن تهدد خيفة

وان جاءهم في جمعه المتألب

Nor did they harbor fear of anyone who threatened them,

even if he came upon them with his massed host.

ولا عار في زيغ الفتى رشذوذه

ولكنما في كذبه والتذبذب

There is no shame in a young man's straying and nonconformity,

but only in his lying and vacillation.

ولس ابالي ما به يشتمونني

وان كان في قلبي كلسعة عقرب

I do not care what they revile me with,

though it is like a scorpion's sting in my heart.

ترهب يرعى العلم خمسين حجة

فاكبر به من عالم مترهب

He lived as an ascetic, tending learning for fifty years;

what a great ascetic scholar he is!

تلقى بما ابقى ثناءاً معطراً

وهل يتلقى طيب غير طيب

He received fragrant praise for what he left behind;

does a good man receive anything but fragrance?

نقدت نزيها ما نقدت فلا تخف

وعيداً واتمم ما بدأت وعقب

Whatever you criticized, you did so impartially; do not fear

a threat; complete what you began, and follow through.

وانك انت اليوم خير مثقف

وانك انت اليوم خير مهذب

You, today, are the finest educator,

and you, today, are the finest refiner of character.

وقل باسلا ما ينبغي ان تقوله

ولا تلتفت للجاهل المتعصب

Boldly say what you ought to say,

and pay no heed to the fanatical ignoramus.

شدا الشعر بعد الصمت يطرب امة

فيا شعر قد احسنت فاشدو أطرب

Poetry sang after silence, delighting a nation;

O poetry, you have done well: sing, bring delight!

وليس بعقل المرء يكبر شعره

ولكن بما في روحه من تكهرب

A man's poetry grows great not through his reason,

but through the electric charge within his soul.

وللشعر عين ماؤها متدفق

متى يأت من صيابة القلب يعذب

Poetry has a spring whose water gushes forth;

when it comes from the heart's yearning, it runs sweet.

وكنت له جددت بين مخطئ

يعنفني في قرضه ومصوب

I had renewed it, between one who found me at fault—

rebuking me for composing it—and one who approved.

يؤنب في تجديدي الشعر صاحبي

فيا صاحبي بعد التفكر أنب

My friend reproaches me for renewing poetry;

O my friend, reflect before you reproach!

وقال أتلقي في الفسيل نظير ما

تراه على النخل الرفيع المشذب

He said: “Do you find in palm saplings the like of what

you see upon tall, well-pruned palms?

أليس الجديد ابن القديم الذي شدا

به القوم بعد القوم من عهد يعرب

Is not the new the son of the old, sung

by people after people since the age of Ya'rub?”

فقلت له ما انت للحق خاضع

واني لما تدلي به في تعجب

I told him: “You do not bow to truth,

and I am amazed at what you put forward.

شعرنا بما لم يشعر القوم قبلنا

شعور السليل الناهض المتهذب

We have felt what those before us never felt—

the feeling of a rising, cultivated heir.

وان الجديد الغض في غفوانه

كبكر كعاب والقديم كثيب

The tender new, in its prime,

is like a nubile virgin, the old like a woman once wed.

ولست على العلات اجحد فضلهم

ولكنما تقليدهم غير معجبي

Despite their flaws, I do not deny their merit,

but imitating them does not appeal to me.”

فكذبني للجهل فيما صدقته

واي صريح ماله من مكذب

In ignorance he called me a liar where I had told him the truth;

what honest speaker has no one to call him a liar?

وماذا عليّ اليوم والحق غايتي

اذا كان لا يرضى الجماهير مذهبي

What harm is there to me today, when truth is my goal,

if the masses disapprove of my creed?

ولا خير في شعر اريد انتقاصه

ولم يتحفز للدفاع ويغضب

There is no good in poetry that, when disparaged,

fails to spring to its defense and grow angry.

انا اليوم من كر الحوادث اشيب

ولكن شعري لم يزل غير اشيب

Today I am gray-haired from the battering of events,

but my poetry has still not turned gray.

ويا شعر انت اليوم اكبر مرشد

لمن ضل عن قصد الطريق الملحب

O poetry, today you are the greatest guide

to those who stray from the straight course of the well-trodden road.

ويا شعر حرر ما تشاء من النهى

جزيئاً وبعد من تشاء وقرب

O poetry, free whatever minds you wish,

boldly; keep whom you will afar, and draw whom you will near.

أبث شعوري فيك غيرمقلد

واعرض آمالي ورأيي ومذهبي

I pour my feeling into you, imitating no one,

and set forth my hopes, my opinion, and my creed.