يا موطنا قد ذبت فيه غراما

أهدي إليك تحية وسلاما

O homeland, in which I have melted with love,

I offer you a greeting and peace.

لولاك لم اك في الوجود ولم اشم

بلج الصباح واسمع الانغاما

Without you I would not have existed, nor smelled

dawn's radiance or heard the melodies.

افديك من وطن نشأت بارضه

ومرحت فيه يافعا وغلاما

I would give my life for you, homeland on whose soil I grew,

and frolicked there as a youth and a boy.

ما كنت الا روضة مطلولة

تحوي الورود وتفتق الاكماما

You were nothing but a dew-drenched garden,

holding roses and opening their buds.

غازلت منها في الغدو بنفسجا

وشممت منها في الاصيل خزاما

At dawn I courted its violets,

and in the late afternoon inhaled its lavender.

وسعدت العب فوق ارضك ناشئا

وشقيت شيخا لا يطيق قياما

And I was happy playing on your soil as a youth,

and suffered as an old man unable to stand.

لك قد غضبت وفي رضاك حملت ان

تنتابني نوب الزمان جساما

For you I grew angry, and to please you I endured

the grievous calamities of time assailing me.

وسمعت من ناس شرير طبعهم

كلماً على نفسي وقعن سهاما

And I heard from people evil in their nature

words that fell upon my soul like arrows.

لي فيك يا وطني الذي قد ملني

حب يواري في الرماد ضراما

For you, O my homeland, which has tired of me, I hold

a love that hides a blaze within the ashes.

اما المنى فقد انتهت ومضاتها

الا بصيصا لا يزيل ظلاما

As for hopes, their flashes have died out,

save a glimmer that dispels no darkness.

من ثقفته الحادثات ملمة

يلقى الخطوب بصدره بساما

One whom calamities have tempered as they befell him

meets ordeals breast-first, smiling.

كبر الألى من طيب اعراق لهم

كانوا اذا لؤم السفيه كراما

Great were those who, through their noble lineage,

were noble when the fool was base.

انا للافاعي غير مكترث وان

تركت بنفسي نابها آلاما

I care nothing for vipers, even if

their fang has left anguish in my soul.

بالذل لا ارضى وان سلمت به

روحي وارضى بالحمام زؤاما

I accept no humiliation, even if it saves

my life; I accept a swift death.

حي الذين اذا الهوان اصابهم

تخذوا الاباء من الهوان عصاما

Salute those who, when humiliation befalls them,

take proud refusal as a safeguard against humiliation.

يا حامل الصمصام لا يحمى به

حقا لماذا تحمل الصمصاما

O bearer of a keen sword that safeguards no

right, why do you carry the sword?

ما في المساواة التي نشدو بها

ان الوهاد تطاول الآكاما

It is not part of the equality we sing of

that lowlands should rival hills in height.

يا قومنا لا نفع في أحلامكم

فخذوا الحقائق وانبذوا الاحلاما

O our people, there is no benefit in your dreams;

so grasp realities and cast dreams aside.

اخشى عليكم في الحياة تدهورا

فيه الرؤوس تقبل الاقداما

I fear for you a decline in life

in which heads kiss feet.

جهل الذين على قديم عولوا

ان الزمان يغير الاحكاما

Those who relied upon the old did not know

that time changes the rules.

واشد خلق الله جهلا امة

نقضت فظنت نقضها ابراما

And most ignorant among God's creatures is a nation

that undoes, then thinks its undoing a firm binding.

ولربما اطرى افاعيلا له

كانت اذا استقرأتها آثاما

And often one extols one's own deeds

that, when you examine them, prove to be sins.

لا يستطيع بناء مجد صادق

من لا يكون لكاذب هداما

No one can build true glory

who does not tear false glory down.

هل يخرق العادات فيما جاءه

الا جريئي لا يخاف ملاما

Does anyone break with custom in what he undertakes

except a bold man who fears no blame?

أاذا نجحت حمدت نفسك مطريا

واذا فشلت تعاتب الاياما

Do you lavish praise upon yourself when you succeed,

and, when you fail, reproach the days?

ان الحياة وغى وقد ينبو بها

سيف الشجاع ولا يكون كهاما

Life is a battlefield, and in it may glance off

a brave man's sword, though it is not blunt.

ولرب حرب تختفي ابطالها

تحت الستار ولا تثير قتاما

And many a war has heroes who lie hidden

beneath a curtain, and raises no dust.

ذم التعصب في الجدال فانه

سقم يجر وراءه اسقاما

Condemn dogmatism in debate, for it is

a sickness that drags other sicknesses behind it.

ما انت الا ذرة منسية

في بقعة من عالم يترامى

You are nothing but a forgotten speck

in a patch of a world stretching far and wide:

كون تحركه نواميس له

كانت له منذ القديم لزاما

a universe moved by laws of its own,

binding upon it since ancient times.

تشكو به الايام مثلك اسرها

فمن السخافة لومك الاياما

Within it, the days, like you, lament their captivity;

so your blaming the days is folly.

فيه الشموس كثيرة فمن الذي

في البدء اضرم نارها اضراما

Within it are many suns; who, then,

set their fire blazing in the beginning?

من يحسب الاوهام منه حقائقا

يجد الحقائق كلها اوهاما

Whoever takes its illusions for realities

finds all realities to be illusions.

او كان من داء به يصدى فقد

يرد الخضم ولا يبل اواما

Or if an illness makes him thirsty, he may

come to the ocean yet not quench his thirst.

لا ينكر الحق المبين سوى امرئ

يعمى وشر منه من يتعامى

None denies manifest truth but a man

who is blind; worse is one who feigns blindness.

ولقد يكون الفوز حلفا للألى

غمدوا السيوف وجردوا الاقلاما

And victory may well ally itself with those

who sheathe their swords and unsheathe their pens.

كم ريشة في كف اروع بددت

جيشا تدجج بالحديد لهاما

Many a quill in a valiant man's hand has scattered

a vast army armored in iron!

ظن ابن آوى انه اسد الشرى

حتى اذا لقي الهزبر تحامى

The jackal thought he was the lion of al-Shara,

until, when he met the lion, he drew back.

لا تسخرن فلابن آوى عذره

ان لا يكون القسور الضرغاما

Do not mock him, for the jackal has his excuse

for not being the mighty, ferocious lion.

ولقد جعلت لي الطبيعة قدوة

وتخذت منها في الحياة اماما

And I have indeed made nature my example,

and taken it as my guide in life.

ما ان اروم وان رجتني رغبة

ما ليس يمكن ان يكون مراما

I do not seek, though desire may shake me,

what cannot possibly be attained.

السيل اما عب مندفعاً فلا

يدع الوهاد ويغمر الآكاما

The torrent, when it surges headlong, does not

abandon the lowlands to inundate the hills.

ولقد اقول الشعر منفعلا به

ولقد انبه بالقريض نياما

And indeed I compose poetry, moved by it,

and indeed with verse I awaken sleepers.

بسمت بنات الشعر حين شببن لي

فقطمتهن فما اردن فطاما

The daughters of poetry smiled when they grew up for me;

so I weaned them, but they wanted no weaning.

اسفي على الادب الذي يبغون ان

يكسوه من عصر خلا اهداما

How I grieve for literature, which they wish to

clothe in tatters from an age gone by!

اخذت تنغص راحتي ضوضاؤهم

من غير ان يلقى الجدال نظاما

Their clamor has begun to disturb my peace,

without the debate finding any order.

فوددت لو ان الذين تجادلوا

جعلوا الوفاق على الصواب ختاما

So I wished that those who disputed

would end with agreement on what is right.

انا لا احب سوى مكان هادئ

اما الزحام فلا اريد زحاما

I love nothing but a quiet place;

as for crowds, I want no crowds.