1. لا هُمَّ دمعيَ منْ طولِ البكا نَفِدا

    فهبْ لعينيَّ ما أبكي به الشهدا

    O God, my tears have run out from long weeping;

    So grant my eyes the means to mourn the martyrs.

  2. وَما الدموعُ وإنْ جادتْ بمنجدةٍ

    فاجعلْ لها من دمي أو مهجتي مددا

    Tears, though they flow generously, are no help;

    So replenish them from my blood or my life's essence.

  3. لؤمٌ بمنْ لا يريق الدمعَ تكرمةً

    لمن أريقتْ دِماهم للبلادِ فدا

    Baseness lies in one who sheds no tears as tribute

    To those whose blood was shed as ransom for the homeland.

  4. في مثلِ ذا اليومِ في هذا المكانِ عَلَى

    هذي الجذوعِ عَلَتْ أرواحُهم صعدا

    On a day like this, in this very place, upon

    These trunks, their souls rose upward.

  5. طارتْ إلى الملإِ الأعلى لتدرك ما

    قدفاتها نيلُه إذْ تسكنُ الجسدا

    They flew to the highest assembly to attain what

    Had eluded them while they dwelt in the body.

  6. لصوتِها في حفافِ العرشِ هينمةٌ

    هل تسمعون؟ ففي أُذنيَّ منه صدى

    Their voice murmurs along the edges of the Throne;

    Do you hear? An echo of it is in my ears:

  7. "صدى دعاءٍ عريضٍ؛ ذي حكايتُه: "

    العرب، والعرب، واستقلالهم، أبدا

    The echo of a far-reaching plea; this is its refrain:

    The Arabs, and the Arabs, and their independence, forever!

  8. وَهل ندافعُ عن حقٍ هريقَ له

    سيلٌ من الدمِ حتى الآن ما ركدا

    And do we defend a right for which was poured

    A torrent of blood that even now has not grown still?

  9. دمٌ بذلناه في تحريرِ أُمَّتِنا

    لا يذهبُ الدمُ في شرعِ الإلهِ سدى

    Blood we offered to free our nation—

    Blood does not go to waste under God's law.

  10. هلْ تذكرون؟ ومَا بالعهدِ من قدمِ

    يوماً أراكم ضُحاه طالعاً نكدا

    Do you remember—and the time is not long past—

    A day whose morning showed you a baleful omen?

  11. يوماً تجددُ ذكراه أسىً وَجوىً

    وَتقرحُ القلبَ والعينين والكبدا

    A day whose memory renews sorrow and burning grief,

    And wounds the heart, the eyes, and the liver.

  12. عَلى الوجوهِ علاماتُ الأَسى ارتسمتْ

    وَفي القلوبِ سعيرُ البثِّ قَدْ وَقدا

    The marks of sorrow were traced upon faces,

    And in hearts the blaze of anguish had flared.

  13. ترى الكآبةَ ممدوداً سرادفُها

    وَغيمُها بسماء (الشام) متعقدا

    You see gloom with its pavilion spread wide,

    And its clouds massed in the sky of al-Sham.

  14. في (الغوطتين) إذا ما نسمةٌ خطرتْ

    أنَّتْ كما أنَّ محزونٌ إذا جُهدا

    In the two Ghoutas, whenever a breeze passed,

    It moaned as a grieving soul moans when worn down.

  15. كأنما الدَوْحُ إنْ مال النسيمُ به

    ثواكلُ نَشَرَتْ أشعارَها كمدا

    As though the great trees, when the breeze bent them,

    Were bereaved mothers who had spread their hair in grief.

  16. كأنما الطلُّ والأوراقُ ترسله

    دمعٌ تَحدَّرَ من آماقِها بددا

    As though the dew, as the leaves let it fall,

    Were tears streaming, scattered, from their eye-corners.

  17. ناحتْ عَلَى (بردى) الأطيارُ فانفجرتْ

    بعد النضوبِ عيونُ الدمع من (بردى)

    The birds lamented over Barada, and there burst forth,

    After drying up, springs of tears from Barada.

  18. كأنَّ تهدارَه في كل منحدرٍ

    نشيجُ باكٍ يعاني الهمَّ محتشدا

    As though its roaring at every downward slope

    Were the sobbing of a weeper burdened with amassed grief.

  19. فلو تراهم عَلى الأعوادِ ماثلةً

    أجسامُهم لفقدت الصبرَ والجلدا

    So, had you seen them upon the timbers, standing before you,

    Their bodies—you would have lost patience and fortitude.

  20. تواجه الشمسُ منهمْ أوجهاً نضرتْ

    كالماسِ في الشمسِ لألآءً إذا اتقدا

    The sun faces countenances of theirs, radiant

    Like diamond in the sun, sparkling when ablaze.

  21. كأنَّ إطراقَهم في طولِ صمتِهمُ

    كمن يراجعُ معنىً رائعاً شردا

    As though their bowed heads in their long silence

    Were like someone recalling a wondrous thought that had slipped away.

  22. كأنَّ إغضاءهم إغضاء ذي كرمٍ

    عن الإِساءةِ خلقاً طاهراً وَهدى

    As though their lowered gaze were a noble person's turning away

    From wrongdoing, through pure character and right guidance.

  23. ومشرئبين بالأعناق تحسبهم

    وِرْداً من الهيمِ نحو الماءِ قد وردا

    With necks outstretched, you would think them

    A herd of thirst-crazed camels that had come to water.

  24. تهفو رقابُهمُ نحو السماءِ كمنْ

    له بها حاجة إدراكها بعدا

    Their necks yearn toward heaven, like one

    With a need there whose fulfillment lies far away.

  25. إنْ كنت تعجب فاعجبْ لابنِ آدم ما

    أشدَّ بغياً وَظلماً منذ ما وجدا

    If you marvel, marvel at the son of Adam: how

    Fierce his tyranny and injustice since he came into being!

  26. بنيةُ اللهِ قد مدتْ لها يده

    بالهدمِ شلّتْ وتبّتْ ما أعقّ يدا

    God's edifice—his hand has stretched out toward it

    To destroy it: may it be paralyzed and perish! What an undutiful hand!

  27. وقاتلُ النفسِ لو صحّتْ عدالتُه

    كمن يداوي بفقءِ المقلةِ الرمدا

    The slayer of a soul, even if his justice were sound,

    Is like one who treats eye inflammation by gouging out the eyeball.

  28. وليس يملكُ فكَّ الروحِ عن جسدٍ

    إلاّ الذي هو ضمَّ الروحَ والجسدا

    None has the right to sever the soul from a body

    Except He who joined the soul and the body.

  29. هَبِ القتيل مسيئاً بالقصاصُ له

    فما جزاءُ الذي قتلاً عليه عدا؟

    Suppose the slain man a wrongdoer, with retribution his due;

    Then what is the recompense for the one who assailed him by killing?

  30. إن كان من جنسِه فالقتل يلزمُ مَنْ

    فوق البسيطة لا يبقي إذنْ أحدا

    If it is of the same kind, killing must befall all who are

    Upon the earth; then it would spare no one.

  31. أقسمتُ باللهِ لَلْمصلوبُ في شرفٍ

    أمسى عَلَى الجذعِ مثل الشلْوِ منفردا

    I swear by God: in honor, the hanged man—

    Who at evening was alone upon the trunk, like a severed limb—

  32. أجلّ في النفسِ مِنْ ملكٍ تحفُّ به

    جلالةُ الملكِ انْ فوق السرير يدا

    Is nobler in the soul than a king surrounded by

    The majesty of kingship, if he appears upon the throne [reading uncertain].

  33. ضمّته أعوادُه من حيث نِيطَ بها

    كما تضمُّ حنايا أضلعٍ خَلَدا

    His timbers embraced him where he was suspended from them,

    As curved ribs enfold a heart.

  34. حَنَتْ عليه وأَمرُ الليلِ مجتمعٌ

    كالأُمِّ تَرْأَمُ في جوفِ الدجى ولدا

    They bent tenderly over him as night gathered in full,

    Like a mother cherishing a child in the depths of darkness.

  35. صحيفةُ الحكمِ في صدرِ الشهيدِ غدتْ

    وِسامَ فخرٍ له بالمجد قد شهدا

    The written verdict upon the martyr's chest became

    A badge of honor for him, bearing witness to his glory.

  36. واللهِ ما الليلة السوداء حين مَشَوْا

    يشاهدون مناياهمْ بها صددا

    By God, the black night when they walked,

    Seeing their deaths directly before them,

  37. أشدّ هولاً عليهم من تفرقِنا

    وانَّ طول سَرانا بعدُ ما حُمدا

    Was no more dreadful to them than our division;

    And our long night-journey since has earned no praise.

  38. يسوءُهم أَننا عند (القضيةِ) ما

    زلنا طرائقَ في آرائنا قددا

    It grieves them that, concerning the cause, we have not

    Ceased to follow divergent paths in our opinions.

  39. يعيثُ فينا فساداً كلُّ ذي دخلٍ

    عَلَى النَّفاقِ وقول الزورِ قد مردا

    Every person of deceit wreaks corruption among us,

    Hardened in hypocrisy and speaking falsehood.

  40. تقطَّعتْ كلُّ أسبابِ الرجاءِ بنا

    هَيِّيءْ لنا ربَّنا من أمرِنا رشدا

    All the bonds of hope have been severed for us;

    Prepare for us, our Lord, right guidance in our affairs.

  41. أستغفرُ اللهَ من يأسٍ يخالجني

    فليس ييأس إلاَّ كافرٌ جحدا

    I ask God's forgiveness for the despair that stirs within me,

    For none despairs save an unbeliever who denies Him.

  42. بقية السيفِ مهما قلَّ ناصرُها

    خيرٌ وأبقى وأنمى بعد ذا عددا

    The remnant left by the sword, however few its supporters,

    Is better, more enduring, and afterward more numerous.

  43. واللهُ أرأفُ من أن لا يقيم لنا

    "وَزناً؛ ويتركنا بين الورى عُبُدا"

    And God is too compassionate not to accord us

    Weight, or to leave us slaves among humankind.