1. عَلِّمْ لسانَكَ يُصغي ف(العراقُ) هُنا..

    تَبًّا لكُلِّ لسانٍ لم يَكُنْ أُذُنَا!

    Teach your tongue to listen, for Iraq is here.

    Damn every tongue that has not been an ear!

  2. هنا (العراقُ).. ولولا ماءُ (دجلتِ)هِ

    ما كانَ صلصالُ هذا العَالَمِ انْعَجَنَا

    Here is Iraq; were it not for the water of its Tigris,

    the clay of this world would never have been kneaded.

  3. هنا (العراقُ).. ويَطْفُو من مَلَاحِمِهِ

    دَمُ الخيالِ الذي في خاطري حُقِنَا

    Here is Iraq, and floating from its epics comes

    the blood of imagination injected into my mind.

  4. هنا (العراقُ).. ويَغْلِي حوضُ أزمنةٍ

    بما صَفَا من مآسيها، وما أَسِنَا

    Here is Iraq, and a basin of ages boils

    with what ran clear from their tragedies and what grew stagnant.

  5. هنا (العراقُ).. تَأَمَّلْ في ملامِحِهِ

    تَلْقَ الجزيرةَ/مصرَ/الشامَ/واليَمَنَا

    Here is Iraq; contemplate its features:

    you will find the Peninsula, Egypt, the Levant, and Yemen.

  6. خرائطٌ حيثما شَفَّتْ معالمُها

    تشابَهَ السِّجنُ والسَّجَّانُ والسُّجَنَا

    Maps—wherever their landmarks show through,

    the prison, the jailer, and the prisoners look alike.

  7. يا (شهرزادُ) ارقصي، والحالُ واحدةٌ

    إذا رقصتِ علينا أو رقصتِ لَنَا

    O Shahrazad, dance; the situation is the same

    whether you dance upon us or dance for us.

  8. وذَوِّبِي في (الليالي الأَلْفِ) سُكَّرَةً

    أخرى، نُحَلِّي بها الآلامَ والمِحَنَا

    And dissolve in the Thousand Nights a lump of sugar,

    another, with which we sweeten pains and trials.

  9. واحكي فما ثَمَّ آذانٌ وألسنةٌ..

    تَبًّا لكلِّ لسانٍ لم يكنْ أُذُنَا!

    And tell your tales, for there are no ears and tongues...

    Damn every tongue that has not been an ear!

  10. زِدْ لانتمائِكَ جذراً ف(العراقُ) هُنا

    نهرانِ يحتضنانِ البدءَ والزمناَ

    Add a root to your belonging, for Iraq is here:

    two rivers embracing the beginning and time.

  11. زِدْ لانتمائِكَ موسيقَا، يُرَقْرِقُها

    ماءُ (الفراتِ) على صدرِ النخيلِ جَنَى

    Add music to your belonging, rippled

    by the Euphrates' water upon the palms' breast, as ripe fruit.

  12. ويا قديماً تجلَّى والمدى عدمٌ

    فمَهَّدَ الأرضَ حتَّى أصبحتْ سَكَنَا

    O ancient one who appeared while the expanse was nothingness,

    and prepared the earth until it became a dwelling.

  13. مِنْ عَالَمِ القلبِ جاءَتْهُ نُبُوَّتُهُ

    تسعَى، فكان على الإلهامِ مُؤْتَمَنَا

    From the realm of the heart his prophethood came to him,

    hastening, and he became a trustee of inspiration.

  14. واستمطرَ الوحيَ من آفاقِ هاجسةٍ

    في خاطر الغيبِ كي يستنبت السُّنَنَا

    And he called down revelation as rain from horizons stirring

    in the mind of the unseen, to make the ways sprout.

  15. ومالَ نحو المعاني وَهْيَ صامتةٌ

    في لفظِها، فحَبَاها المنطقَ اللَّسِنَا

    And he leaned toward meanings while they were silent

    in their wording, and bestowed eloquent speech upon them.

  16. حتَّى إذا رَتَّبَ الدنيا كخاطرةٍ

    عُليا، ووَزَّعَ في أفكارِها المُدُنَا

    Until, when he arranged the world like a thought

    sublime, and distributed cities among its ideas,

  17. دعا المشيئةَ أنْ تجري بما حَمَلَتْ

    من المقاديرِ إنْ سَعْدًا وإنْ حَزَنَا

    he summoned the Will to run with what it bore

    of destinies, whether good fortune or sorrow.

  18. ومُذْ أَسَرَّ إليهِ الغيبُ مِحْنَتَهُ

    وما يزالُ بسِرِّ الغيبِ مُمْتَحَنَا

    And since the unseen confided its ordeal to him,

    he has remained tested by the secret of the unseen.

  19. هَبَّتْ طواحينُ هذا الدهرِ تطحنُهُ

    فآنَسَتْهُ على أسنانِها خَشِنَا

    The mills of this age rose up to grind him,

    and found him rough against their teeth.

  20. تالله يا والدَ النهرينِ! لو جبلٌ

    لاقَى من الدهرِ ما لاقيتَ لانْطَحَنَا

    By God, O father of the two rivers! Had a mountain

    encountered from time what you encountered, it would have been ground down.

  21. أبا الشراعِ الذي لم يلقَ عاصفةً

    إلاَّ وشَدَّ على أكتافِها، الرَّسَنَا

    O father of the sail that never encountered a storm

    without tightening a halter upon its shoulders.

  22. ويا خليفةَ (نوحٍ) في سفينتِهِ

    حيث الأمانةُ لاَقَتْ أشرفَ الأُمَنَا

    And O Noah's successor in his ark,

    where the trust met the noblest of trustees.

  23. ما زلتَ في قبضةِ (الطوفانِ) منتصباً

    والموجُ حولك غولٌ يبلعُ السُّفُنَا

    You still stand upright in the Flood's grip,

    and the waves around you are a ghoul swallowing ships.

  24. يجتاحُكَ المَدُّ شبلاً في فتوَّتِهِ

    وينثني عنكَ شيخاً عَظْمُهُ وَهَنَا

    The tide sweeps over you, a cub in its youth,

    and recoils from you an old man with weakened bones.

  25. وأنتَ رأسٌ يقيمُ الأنبياءُ بِهِ

    ويحملونَ على أكتافِهِ، المِحَنَا

    And you are a head in which prophets dwell,

    and carry trials upon its shoulders.

  26. حَسْبُ الرسالات في ليلِ الكفاحِ إذا

    صحوتَ أنتَ، و(نَامَتْ أعينُ الجُبَنَا)

    For the messages in the night of struggle, it is enough if

    you awaken, while the eyes of cowards sleep.

  27. يا جبهةَ الغيرةِ السمراءِ ما حَمَلَتْ

    غيرَ (الحسينِ) وراحت تطلبُ (الحَسَنَا)

    O brow of dusky zeal, you bore

    none but Husayn, and went seeking Hasan.

  28. لا زلتَ كبشَ فداءِ الأرضِ، يَذْبَحُهُ

    رَبُّ القطيعِ لكي يُرضِي بِهِ وَثَنَا

    You have never ceased to be earth's sacrificial ram, slaughtered by

    the flock's lord to appease an idol with it.

  29. فكمْ تنازلتَ عن عينيكَ ذاتَ هوًى

    وما تنازلتَ عَمَّنْ فيهما سَكَنَا

    For how often you gave up your eyes for love,

    yet never relinquished whoever dwelt in them.

  30. يأبىَ الوفاءُ إلى الزندِ الأخيرِ بهِ

    ألاَّ تكونَ على (العبَّاسِ) مُؤْتَمَنَا

    Loyalty, down to the last forearm within it, refuses

    to let you be anything but a trustee of Abbas.

  31. إذا تنازلَ شَعْبٌ عن قصيدتِهِ

    هَيِّئْ لهُ السِّدرَ والكافورَ والكَفَنَا

    If a people relinquishes its poem,

    prepare for it lote leaves, camphor, and a shroud.

  32. سقياكَ يا والدَ النهرينِ.. بي عطشٌ

    للوحيِ ما انفكَّ في نهريكَ مُخْتَزَنَا

    May you be watered, O father of the two rivers; I thirst

    for revelation that has never ceased to be stored in your two rivers.

  33. أنا أَقَلُّ فَماً من أنْ أضيفَ دَماً

    ل(كربلاءَ)، وأُهدي لل(غَرِيِّ) سَنَا

    My mouth is too small to add blood

    to Karbala, and offer radiance to al-Ghari.

  34. هَبْنِي بحجمكَ قلباً صامدًا صَمَدًا

    حتَّى أَلُمَّكَ فيهِ لوعةً وضَنَا

    Grant me a heart as great as you, steadfast and unyielding,

    so I may gather you within it as anguish and wasting illness.

  35. فقد لقيتُكَ في عينِ المها غَزَلاً

    وفي عيونِ المنايا أسيفاً وقَنَا

    For I have met you in the oryx's eye as love poetry,

    and in the eyes of death as swords and spears.

  36. تَجَمْهَرَتْ كلماتي في عبارتِها

    صَفًّا توشَّح بالإيقاعِ، واتَّزَنَا

    My words thronged within their phrase,

    a rank that donned rhythm and found its balance.

  37. تَحِيَّةً يا إمامَ الماءِ في زمنٍ

    غيماتُهُ تُمْطِرُ الأحقادَ والإِحَنَا

    A greeting, O imam of water, in an age

    whose clouds rain down hatreds and grudges.

  38. فإنْ أتيتُكَ أحلاماً مُسَعَّفَةً

    فأنتَ لي خاطرٌ بالنخلةِ اقترنَا

    And if I come to you as palm-fronded dreams,

    you are, for me, a thought joined to the palm tree.

  39. وإنْ تَنَشَّقْتُ من كينونتي عَبَقاً

    على رُباكَ فعندي من (أنَ)اكَ (أنَا)

    And if I inhale a fragrance of my being

    upon your hills, I have an 'I' drawn from your 'I.'

  40. وحيثما استشعرَ الإنسانُ عِزَّتَهُ

    لدى المكانِ، فقد ألفَى له وطنَا

    And wherever a human being senses his dignity

    in a place, he has found himself a homeland.

  41. أهواكَ يا قاتلاً سِكِّينُهُ وَتَرٌ

    لا يعزفُ القتلَ إلا ناعماً لَدِنَا

    I love you, O killer whose knife is a string,

    that plays killing only softly and pliantly.

  42. إني أتيتُ برَفٍّ من ملائكةٍ

    مُوَكَّلينَ بما حُمِّلْتُهُ شَجَنَا

    I have come with a flock of angels

    entrusted with the sorrow I was made to bear.

  43. وَقَفْتُ قابَ ارتجافٍ منكَ، ملتبساً

    بالشوقِ نجماً تدلَّى في دمي ودَنَا

    I stood a tremor's breadth from you, entwined

    with longing—a star that hung down in my blood and drew near.

  44. أمدُّ زندي كزند العودِ محتضِناً

    صدرَ الجراح التي لم تلقَ مُحْتَضِنَا

    I extend my forearm like the oud's neck, embracing

    the breast of wounds that found no one to embrace them.

  45. فاركضْ بجرحكَ للأنغامِ ناصعةً

    بيضاءَ، واعقدْ عليهِ (الشَّاشَ) والقُطُنَا

    So run with your wound toward melodies, dazzling

    white, and bind gauze and cotton over it.

  46. أعلنتُكَ الحُبَّ حُبًّا لا نليقُ بهِ

    كعاشقَيْنِ إذا لم نَرْوِهِ عَلَنَا

    I proclaimed you Love—a love we do not deserve

    as two lovers if we do not recount it openly.

  47. اليومَ يولدُ إنسانٌ على شفتي

    من النشيدِ الذي في (بابلٍ) وُزِنَا

    Today a human being is born upon my lip

    from the song given meter in Babylon.

  48. أتيتُ أنفضُ عن نفسي (معلَّقةً)

    من الوصايا فلا رَبْعًا ولا دِمَنَا

    I came to shake from myself a Mu‘allaqa ode

    of injunctions—no campsite, no ruined traces.

  49. دعني أعاتبُ حادي العيس في لغتي:

    كم كان أهدرَ في الصحراءِ نهرَ غِنَا!

    Let me reproach the pale-camel chanter in my language:

    what a river of song he had squandered in the desert!

  50. ولا تسلْ شاعراً عَمَّا قبيلتُهُ

    تحيا بميراثِها من شقوةٍ وعَنَا :

    And do not ask a poet about what his tribe

    lives on in its inheritance of misery and hardship:

  51. جدِّي (الفرزدقُ) لم يبرحْ يطارحُهُ

    عمِّي (جريرٌ) سُباباً بائِتاً نَتِنَا

    my grandfather al-Farazdaq still trades with

    my uncle Jarir stale, putrid insults.

  52. لا تَخْدَعَنَّكَ (أسفارٌ) مُذَهَّبَةٌ

    فربَّما تحمل الديدانَ والعَفَنَا

    Do not let gilded volumes deceive you;

    for they may carry worms and rot.

  53. لم ألقَ وجهَكَ في مرآةِ لحظتِهِ..

    رَأًيْتُهُ في مرايا أَمْسِهِ سُجِنَا!

    I did not find your face in the mirror of its moment;

    I saw it imprisoned in the mirrors of its yesterday.

  54. أشعلْ ثقابَكَ في الماضي وسيرتِهِ

    سِيِّانِ إنْ هَزُلَ الماضي وإنْ سَمُنَا

    Light your match in the past and its history;

    it is all the same whether the past grew lean or fat.

  55. عَوَّذْتُني بِكَ مِمَّا قد يجيءُ به

    سيلُ القبيلةِ في أمواجِهِ فِتَنَا

    I sought refuge in you from what may be brought

    by the tribe's torrent as strife within its waves.

  56. عندي شكوكُ (سليمانٍ)، فمعذرةً

    إذا ذبحتُ برأسي (الهدهدَ) الفَطِنَا

    I harbor Solomon's doubts, so pardon me

    if I slaughter the discerning hoopoe with my head.

  57. يا أُسْرَةَ الشَّجَنِ العالي، لنا رَحِمٌ

    من (الموسيقا)، لنا أَهْلٌ، لنَا.. ولنَا

    O family of lofty sorrow, we share a womb

    of music; we have kin, we have... and we have

  58. مشيئةٌ قد تَشَطَّرْنَا مراضعَها

    قِدْماً، ولَمَّا نَزَلْ نستنشقُ اللَّبَنَا

    a will whose nursing breasts we divided among us

    long ago, and we still inhale the milk.

  59. وما تزالُ ظلالُ الروحِ واحدةً

    من فرط ما بعضنا في بعضنا دُفِنَا

    And the soul's shadows remain one

    because so much of us lies buried in one another.

  60. جئنا الحياةَ وهَنْدَسْنَا الفراغَ بها

    شُبَّاكَ حُلْمٍ يرشُّ الكائناتِ مُنَى

    We came into life and engineered its emptiness

    into a dream-window spraying beings with wishes.

  61. من أوَّل الحرفِ لم تنعسْ أصابعُنا

    على يَدَيْهِ، ولم تستطعمِ الوَسَنَا

    Since the first letter, our fingers have never dozed

    upon its hands, nor tasted slumber.

  62. وجهُ السماءِ صَفَعْنَاهُ بقهقهةٍ

    هُزْءاً بمَنْ أَمْسَكُوا باللهِ مُرْتَهَنَا

    The face of heaven—we slapped it with a guffaw,

    mocking those who held God hostage.

  63. وكلَّما اختلَّ نبضُ الكونِ مضطرباً

    رُحْنَا نُوَازِنُهُ بالشِّعْرِ فاتَّزَنَا

    And whenever the universe's pulse faltered in turmoil,

    we set out to balance it with poetry, and it regained its balance.

  64. نعيدُ إنتاجَ هذا الخلقِ، نصنعُهُ

    أحلَى، ونمنحُهُ الألوانَ والسِّحَنَا

    We reproduce this creation, making it

    lovelier, and giving it colors and countenances.

  65. هنا (العراقُ) الذي ما ثَمَّ قافيةٌ

    لم تَتَّخِذْهُ لجِنِيَّاتِها سَكَنا

    Here is Iraq: there is no rhyme

    that has not made it a home for its female jinn.

  66. فيا ندامايَ في هَمٍّ سواسيةٍ

    إنْ بوركَ الهمُّ في الدنيا، وإنْ لُعِنَا

    So, O my boon companions, equal in sorrow,

    whether sorrow is blessed in this world or cursed,

  67. رغمَ الجنائزِ فاضَتْ عن مقابرِها

    من فرط ما غصَّ جوفُ الأرضِ واحتقنَا

    despite funerals overflowing their graveyards

    from how choked and congested the earth's depths have grown,

  68. لا تقرأوا سورةَ (الأجداثِ) في وطنٍ

    بَنَى المجازَ.. بَنَى المعنى.. بَنَى.. وبَنَى

    do not recite the 'Surah of Graves' in a homeland

    that built metaphor, built meaning, built and built.

  69. ما سَوَّسَ اللحمُ إلا سيفَ قاتلِهِ

    حتَّى انثنَى السيفُ مخزيًّا ومُمْتَهَنَا

    The flesh riddled only its killer's sword with worms,

    until the sword turned back, disgraced and debased.

  70. فها هُنا الموتُ أسمَى من فجيعتِهِ

    معنًى، وأنصعُ من وجه الحياةِ سَنَى

    For here death is loftier than its tragedy

    in meaning, and brighter than the face of life in radiance.

  71. يا مَنْ رَفَعْنَا أناشيدَ الجلالِ لهُ

    فمالَ عطفاً علينا، وانحنَى، وحَنَى

    O you to whom we raised hymns of majesty,

    who leaned toward us in tenderness, bent down, and showed compassion,

  72. ما زلتَ بالعالمِ الأرضيِّ مفتتناً

    مقدارَ ما بِكَ هذا العالمُ افْتُتِنَا

    you remain enchanted by the earthly world

    as much as this world is enchanted by you.

  73. تُزَوِّجُ الأرضَ بالأخرى، وكم بلدٍ

    فيهِ البقاعُ يضاجعنَ البقاعَ زِنَا!

    You wed the earth to the other world; and how many a land

    has regions sleeping with regions in adultery!

  74. كَمْ في ترابِكَ من روحٍ مُقَدَّسَةٍ

    تَجَسَّدَتْهُ فأضحى للسَّما بَدَنَا

    How many a holy spirit in your soil

    has taken it as flesh, so it became a body for heaven.

  75. لا بُورِكَتْ في يد الإيمانِ مسبحةٌ

    حتَّى تزفَّ إليكَ الحمدَ والمِنَنَا

    May no rosary in faith's hand be blessed

    until it brings you praise and favors.

  76. هَبْنَا رضاكَ ووَطِّنَّا بساحتِهِ..

    ماذا يكون الرضا إنْ لم يكنْ وطناَ؟!

    Grant us your favor, and settle us in its courtyard;

    what is favor if it is not a homeland?

  77. بِكَ اتَّكَأْنَا على أكتافِ ذاكرةٍ

    تُثَبِّتُ الوقتَ حتَّى لا يميدَ بِنَا

    Through you we leaned upon the shoulders of a memory

    that steadies time so it does not sway beneath us.

  78. مَنْ جاءَ قبلَ الليالي، لا يُقالُ لهُ:

    لقد تَأَخَّرْتَ عَمَّنْ سابقَ الزَّمَنَا!

    One who came before the nights cannot be told:

    'You have fallen behind those who raced time!'

  79. قالوا: تَبَخَّرتَ! قالوها، وما التفتوا

    حتَّى تَكَثَّفْتَ في آفاقِهِمْ مُزُنا

    They said, 'You evaporated!' They said it, and did not look back

    until you condensed into rain clouds on their horizons.

  80. لا بُدَّ للأرضِ أنْ تحيا على أملٍ

    ما لاحَ فيها اخضرارٌ يرتدي فَنَنَا

    The earth must live on hope

    as long as greenery appears in it, clad in a bough.