رأيت الناس أقساما

أعاريبا وأعجاما

I saw people divided into groups:

Arabs and non-Arabs.

فقسم جامد ثاو

أمام القوم أهراما

One sort lies inert and motionless,

before the people, like pyramids.

مشى عشواء في الظلما

وفي الأغلاط قد عاما

He walked blindly through the darkness,

and swam amid errors.

كمثل الصخر لم يفهم

ولو أصبحت علاما

Like a rock, he understood nothing,

even if you became deeply learned.

يرى الإسلام تكفيرا

يرى التفكير إسلاما

He sees Islam as declaring others unbelievers;

he sees thinking as Islam.

يرى الإحجام إقداما

يرى الإقدام إحجاما

He sees restraint as boldness;

he sees boldness as restraint.

فهذا لا يُرى شيئا

وإن صلى وإن صاما

Such a person is accounted nothing,

even if he prays and fasts.

وقسم ساكن جهلا

وليس العلم إلهاما

Another sort is motionless through ignorance,

and knowledge is not inspiration.

من الإذلال دنياكم

كسته اليوم هنداما

Your world has taken humiliation

as the garb it clothes him in today.

وكم قد جردت سيفا

على المسكين صمصاما

How often it has drawn a sword,

a keen blade against the poor man.

فعاش الدهر محروما

وكان الدهر ظلاما

So he lived his whole life deprived,

and time was an oppressor.

غفلنا عنه تفريطا

نسينا فيه أرحاما

We neglected him through carelessness;

we forgot our kinship with him.

سكنا دونه صرحا

وأسكناه آكاما

We inhabited a palace without him,

and lodged him among the hills.

ولو أشعرته يوما

بفضل العلم إلماما

Had you one day made him aware,

even briefly, of the merit of knowledge,

لأمسى فيه إحساس

إذا استنهضته قاما

feeling would have awakened within him;

if you called him to rise, he would rise.

وما الإنسان انسانا

إذا ما خاض أو هاما

A person is not truly human

if he merely plunges in or wanders.

وما الدنيا له مهد

إذا ما حركت ناما

Nor is the world his cradle,

where he sleeps whenever it is rocked.

وقسم قلبه دام

وكان الفقر إلجاما

Another sort has a bleeding heart,

and poverty has bridled him.

وظيف سامه ذلا

وما أدراك ما ساما

Employment has subjected him to humiliation—

and what can tell you what it made him endure?

يذوق الذل ألوانا

ويستجديك إطعاما

He tastes humiliation in many forms,

and begs you for food.

يرى في رزقه بابا

ويخشى فيه حكاما

He sees one doorway to his livelihood,

and fears officials there.

وباري الخلق رزاق

رعاك الله قساما

Yet the Maker of creation is the Provider—

God preserve you!—the Allotter.

وكم للّه أبواب

أعدت منه إنعاما

How many doors God has,

prepared for blessings from Him.

فما للعبد مقناطا

وما للعبد مسئاما

Why should a servant be so despondent,

and why should a servant be so weary?

يرى الحكام آسادا

يرى الديوان آجاما

He sees the rulers as lions;

he sees the government bureau as thickets.

درى أحوالها لكن

يراعي الحكم كتاما

He knows its workings, yet

watches the government in silence,

صبورا لابثا دهرا

يغطي الزهر أكماما

patient, lingering for ages,

covering blossoms with their sheaths.

رؤوس الشهر أعياد

له يرعاه أياما

The beginnings of months are festivals

to him; he watches the month, day after day.

فكان العضو معتلا

يزيد الناس آلاما

So this member was ailing,

adding to the people's pains.

وقسم حاكم طاغ

يسوق الناس أنعاما

Another sort is a tyrannical ruler,

driving people like livestock.

أناني بلا ريب

يرى الأحرار أخصاما

Selfish beyond any doubt,

he sees free people as adversaries.

ذئاب في مراعينا

رأت في الحي أغناما

Wolves in our pastures

have seen sheep in our community.

دعوناهم لدستور

فكانوا فيه أصناما

We called on them for a constitution,

but in that matter they were idols.

وقالوا كم منحناكم

من الخيرات أنعاما

They said: How much we have bestowed upon you,

how many good things as favors!

وهذا مطلب منكم

مشط زاد إجراما

And this demand of yours

is excessive, adding to wrongdoing.

وإنا بيننا عهد

نشرنا فيه أعلاما

Between us there is a covenant,

under which we have unfurled banners.

نقيّض فيه ما قلتم

ولم نلحقه إتماما

In it we arrange what you have said,

but we have not brought it to completion.

فقلنا القول مردود

وليس الحق إكراما

We replied: Your claim is rejected;

a right is not a favor.

جرى القانون تاريخا

فأجروا فيه إيهاما

The law ran its course through history,

and they introduced deception into it.

وزدنا فيه غيضاحا

فزادوا فيه إبهاما

We added clarification to it,

and they made it more obscure.

وقالوا هكذا نحيا

أعاريبا وأرواما

They said: This is how we live,

Arabs and Romans alike.

فقلنا الحق سوانا

سنشفي منه أسقاما

We replied: Right has made us equal;

through it we shall cure our ills.

وأنا قد فتحناها

بكف العدل أختاما

We have indeed broken them open—

those seals—with the hand of justice.

وقسم خائن يمشي

وراء الناس نمّاما

Another sort is a traitor who walks

behind people, spreading malicious gossip.

فلا جنسا ولا دينا

يداجي الكل نهاما

He has neither people nor faith;

he flatters everyone deceitfully, ravenous.

يبيع الدين بالدنيا

ولا دامت ولا داما

He sells religion for worldly gain—

may neither the world nor he endure.

هي النقدان أنصابا

يراعيها وأزلاما

For him, the two currencies are idols

he reveres, and divining arrows.

إذا ما قيل دينار

على وجه الثرى هاما

If someone so much as says: A dinar!

he roams across the face of the earth.

وفي الأعراض إعراض

له يكفي بذا ذاما

He disregards people's honor:

this is enough to condemn him.

وقسم خائف يدري

غدا في الناس حلّاما

Another sort is fearful, though aware;

among people he has become a dreamer.

يرى الأحكام أغلالا

يرى الشرطي ضرغاما

He sees laws as shackles;

he sees the policeman as a lion.

كزنبور بلا شهد

وخمر لم تجد جاما

Like a hornet with no honey,

and wine that has found no goblet,

غدوا في القول أرواحا

وفي الأعمال أجساما

in speech they have become spirits,

but in deeds, mere bodies.

فقل أجدى الورى نفعا

لهم من كان مقداما

So say: The most beneficial of people

to them is whoever is bold.

وقسم ساخر يهذي

يزيد القلب إضراما

Another sort mocks and babbles,

stoking the heart's fire.

يعيب الناس نقّادا

على الأفكار هجاما

He faults people as a relentless critic,

assailing ideas.

إذا استبحثته عادي

إذا استنصحته لاما

If you question him closely, he turns hostile;

if you ask his advice, he blames you.

إذا استدنيته يعدو

وراء النأي إفصاما

If you seek to draw him near, he runs

after distance, breaking the bond.

نراه ناظرا شزرا

على الأعمال بساما

We see him casting sidelong looks,

smiling mockingly at deeds.

يرانا دونه فكرا

وحيدا بات فهاما

He deems our thinking beneath his;

alone, he has become a great thinker.

فعاش الدهر ممقوتا

حسودا في الهوى عاما

So he lived his whole life detested,

envious, swimming in desire.

وقسم عارف حيّ

يرى الإذلال إعداما

Another sort is knowing and alive,

seeing humiliation as annihilation.

بصيرا إن مشى يمشي

وراء الفكر عزاما

Clear-sighted, whenever he walks, he walks

in thought's wake, resolute.

يقيم الليل يقظانا

يخوض البحر عواما

He keeps vigil through the night, awake,

and ventures into the sea, a swimmer.

وفي الأحوال منطاد

على أسرارها حاما

Amid circumstances, he is a balloon,

hovering over their secrets.

وفي الأيام منظار

يراها العام فالعاما

Amid the days, he is a telescope,

seeing them year after year.

وفي الديجور طلاع الث

نايا بات قواما

In pitch darkness, he is a climber of the

mountain passes, keeping vigil through the night.

يرى الأشياء تفصيلا

ويذكي الفكر نجاما

He sees things in detail,

and kindles thought as an astrologer.

خبير بالدنا حقا

يرى للدهر أحكاما

Truly versed in the worlds,

he sees that time has decrees.

إذا تقضي بشيء ما

غدا المقضي إلزاما

Whenever they decree anything,

what is decreed becomes binding.

ولاح قام مخزيا

جنونا رام ما راما

A detractor arose to shame him:

In madness, he sought what he sought!

يقول القوم ما زالوا

صغارا ليته صاما

He says: The people are still

children—if only he had fasted from speech!

فقل هب عندنا فرد

ولسنا الحق أقواما

Then say: Suppose we have one individual,

while we are not, in truth, a people;

فضعه بين أصفار

تر الأصفار أرقاما

place him among zeros,

and you will see the zeros become numbers.

بني الخضراء إخواني

بني الدستور ارغاما

Sons of al-Khadra, my brothers,

sons of the Constitution, defiantly,

أبينوا أنكم أهل

ولا تبقون أقساما

show that you are worthy,

and do not remain divided groups.

فحيوا فيه أستاذا

وحيوا فيه حاخاما

Salute in it a teacher,

and salute in it a rabbi.

ومدوا للإخا أيدي

كمو هودوا وإسلاما

Stretch out your hands in brotherhood,

Jews and Muslims alike,

وقوفا في مصلاكم

إذا كبرت إحراما

standing in your place of prayer,

when you proclaim God's greatness to begin prayer.

أنا ما بينكم صوت

بكم أصبحت نظاما

I am a voice among you;

through you I have become an ordered composition—

نشيدا بينكم هذا

تغنوا فيه أنغاما

this anthem among you:

sing its melodies,

بألحان شجيات

تزيد القلب إضراما

with poignant tunes

that kindle the heart's fire.

وقولو نحن أحرار

نشرنا اليوم أعلاما

And say: We are free;

today we have unfurled banners.

وهذا الصوت دستوري

فتحنا عنه أفماما

And this voice is constitutional;

we have opened our mouths for it.

رفعناه كنيران

على الأعلام أعلاما

We raised it like fires,

as banners upon the mountain peaks.

كتبنا ما كتبناه

بإحساس كتبنا ما

We wrote what we wrote

with feeling; we wrote what...

وفي الإحساس أسلاك

جرت في الناس أقلاما

And within feeling are wires,

which ran among the people as pens.

دعونا للإخا فاعلم

أعاريبا وأعجاما

We called to brotherhood—know this—

Arabs and non-Arabs.