لم يطمئن القوم في بغداد

إلا إلى الأغلال والأصفاد

The people in Baghdad found no peace

Except in fetters and shackles.

استسلموا للهاضميهم بعدما

هاجوا هياج البحر ذي الازباد

They surrendered to their oppressors after

Raging with the fury of the foaming sea.

فجنوا على الاجداد في اجداثهم

وجنوا على الابناء والاحفاد

Thus they wronged their forefathers in their graves,

And wronged their children and grandchildren.

وهناك من هو للاسى مستعبر

وهناك من هو للمسرة شاد

And there are those who weep from sorrow,

And there are those who sing for joy.

ماذا تقول لامة معكوسة

جعلت مآتمها من الاعياد

What can you say to a nation turned upside down,

That has made its funerals into festivals?

ما كان ظني يا ملاعب صبوتي

ان تذهب الآمال فيك بداد

I never thought, O playgrounds of my youth,

That hopes in you would be scattered,

حتى بدا لي والزمان معلم

ان الاحبة في العراق اعاد

Until it became clear to me—and time is a teacher—

That loved ones in Iraq are enemies.

ان الذين تسيطروا بخداعهم

ثبتوا بصدر الحكم كالاوتاد

Indeed, those who took control through their deceit

Have stood firm at the head of government like stakes.

اما حقوق الابرياء فانما

عصفت بهن زوابع الاحقاد

As for the rights of the innocent, they were merely

Swept away by whirlwinds of hatred.

قد حال بين هضيمها وعظيمها

ما قد اقام الا فك من اسداد

Between its downtrodden and its mighty stand

The barriers that falsehood has erected.

قلت استبد بكم فريق طائش

منكم وما من قام بذياد

I said, “A reckless faction has tyrannized over you—

One of your own—and no one rose to resist.”

قالوا اذا تمت لنا صلواتنا

خمسا فما ضرر في الاستبداد

They said, “If our prayers are completed,

All five, what harm is there in tyranny?

انا لقوم راحلون الى التي

نجزى بها والدين احسن زاد

Indeed, we are a people bound for the life

In which we shall be recompensed, and religion is the best provision.

الموت فيه راحة مضمونة

اما الحياة فليس غير جهاد

In death there is guaranteed repose;

As for life, it is nothing but struggle.

لا تستميل نفوسنا بطلائها

دنيا غرور كونها لفساد

Our souls are not beguiled by its gilding—

A world of delusion, whose very existence is destined for decay.”

فصرخت فيهم قائلا لا تكذبوا

فالدين يأمركم بالاستعداد

So I cried out among them, saying, “Do not lie!

For religion commands you to make ready.

لو كانت الدنيا بمال تشترى

لبذلت فيها طارفي وتلادي

If the world could be bought with money,

I would give for it my newly acquired wealth and my inherited wealth.

الشعب ادخل باختيار راسه

للطيش في شدق الهزبر العادي

The people willingly thrust their head

Out of recklessness, into the maw of the marauding lion.

فهلم ننج الفلك قد اشفى على

غرق بتقوى كان او الحاد

So come, let us save the ship, now on the brink of

Sinking, whether our means be piety or atheism.

فالفلك في تيار بحر زاخر

والموج حول الفلك كالاطواد

For the ship is in the current of a surging sea,

And the waves around the ship are like mountains.

يا قومنا احتفظوا بقوة عزمكم

فالموت للضعفاء بالمرصاد

O our people, preserve the strength of your resolve,

For death lies in wait for the weak.

يا قوم لستم للحياة بامة

انتم بواد والحياة بواد

O people, you are not a nation fit for life:

You are in one valley, and life is in another.

يا قوم لا دنيا ولا دين لمن

رسفوا بدار الهون في الاقياد

O people, neither worldly life nor religion belongs to those

Who trudge in shackles in the abode of humiliation.

واذا الشعوب تعاضدت في وحدة

كانت عوادي الدهر غير عواد

And when nations support one another in unity,

Time’s ravages are ravages no more.

سيروا على ضوء النهى في ليلكم

فالعقل مثل الكوكب الوقاد

Walk by the light of reason through your night,

For reason is like a blazing star.

خير من الليل البهيم لمدلج

صبح يشاب بياضه بسواد

Better than pitch-black night for a night traveler

Is a dawn whose whiteness is tinged with black.

ولقد ارى ابن الضاد مغرى بالهوى

ماذا الذي اغراك يا ابن الضاد

And indeed I see the son of Ḍād beguiled by passion:

What is it that has beguiled you, O son of Ḍād?”