أترى تلك الأعاريض التي

فرقت أبياتها شطرا فشطرا

Do you see those poetic meters whose

verses were divided, hemistich after hemistich?

أترى الترصيع في أسواقها

بالطلى سحما وبالأرؤس حمرا

Do you see the inlay in her markets,

with blackened necks and reddened heads?

أترى التدبيج في ألوانها

معقبا من بيضها زرقا وعفرا

Do you see the embroidery in her colors,

following her whites with blues and dusty browns?

أترى الخالد من أطلالها

كيف يطوى بعد أن ينشر نشرا

Do you see what is deathless among her ruins,

how it is folded up after being spread wide?

أترى الوري بلا تورية

ناسخا تاريخها عصرا فعصرا

Do you see the blaze, without equivocation,

erasing her history, age after age?

كم مقام عطلت زينته

زانه في العين أن يصبح إثرا

How many a dwelling, stripped of its finery,

was graced to the eye by becoming a vestige!

كم كتاب برزت أحرفه

ساطعات ولسان النار يقرا

How many a book's letters stood forth,

radiant, while the tongue of fire read!

كل قصر متداع شيدت

بعده هازئة الأنوار قصرا

For every crumbling palace, there was built

in its wake, by the mocking lights, a palace.

كل برج مترام حفرت

بعده في عمق الظلماء بئرا

For every toppling tower, there was dug

in its wake, deep in the darkness, a well.

كل كتر في المباني رفعت

فوقه سخرية الشعلول كترا

For every dome among the buildings, there was raised

above it, by the blaze's mockery, a dome.

هوت العقبان عن أنصابها

وغذا منها اللظى رخاونسرا

The eagles fell from their pedestals,

and from them the blaze nourished a roc and a vulture.

وترامت شعل طائرة

قد ترى عصفورها يصطاد صقرا

And flying flames scattered;

you might see their sparrow hunting a falcon.

وترى منها فراشا ناحلا

يضرب الباشق أو يهدم وكرا

And among them you see a slender moth

striking the sparrowhawk or demolishing a nest.

وترى منها هلاما بشعا

غائلا فرخا ولا يرحم ظئرا

And among them you see a hideous, gelatinous mass,

slaying a fledgling and sparing no foster mother.

ويح روما تزدهي ذاكية

وعيون الليل بالرحمة شكرى

Alas for Rome, resplendent as she blazes,

while the eyes of night are grateful for mercy!

لم يجد نيرون أبهى فلجا

من تشظيها ولا أعذب ثغرا

Nero found no lovelier parted teeth

than her splintering, nor a sweeter mouth.

لا ولم يفعمه بشرا حدث

كالذي أفعمه إذ ذاك بشرا

No! No event had filled him with joy

like the one that filled him then with joy.

غاية الإضحاك ما ألفاه من

فزع الصالين يبغون مفرا

The height of hilarity was what he found in

the terror of those burning, seeking escape,

والإشارات التي يبدونها

في تعاديهم إلى يمنى ويسرى

and the gestures they displayed

as they raced to right and left,

كرعال الجن رقصا في اللظى

والمجانين مناباة وهترا

like bands of jinn dancing in the blaze,

and madmen, quarrelling and raving.

رب عار بقروح يكتسي

وبتول تحت ستر الوهج تعرى

Many a naked man is clothed in sores,

and a virgin is bared beneath the veil of the blaze;

وهزيم وثبت أعينه

وضرير متلو حيث قرا

and a fugitive whose eyes sprang out,

and a blind man, pursued wherever he stopped;

ونحيف بات ظلا واجفا

وضليع مات تحت الردم هطرا

and a thin man, turned to a trembling shadow,

and a brawny man who died crushed beneath the rubble.