أآمِدُ هَل ألَمَّ بكِ النهارُ

أآمِدُ هَل ألَمَّ بكِ النهارُ

قَديماً أو أُثيرَ بكِ الغُبارُ

قَديماً أو أُثيرَ بكِ الغُبارُ

O Āmid, has daylight visited you

O Amid, has the clear day ever dawned upon you?

In times past, or has dust been stirred within you?

Or has the dust been stirred within you since ancient times?

إذا ما الأرضُ كانت فيكِ ماءً

إذا ما الأرضُ كانت فيكِ ماءً

فأين بها لغرقاكِ القرارُ

فأين بها لغرقاكِ القرارُ

If the earth within you is water,

If the very earth within you were turned to water,

Then where in it can your drowned find a resting place?

Where, then, would your drowned ones find a resting place?

تغَضَّبَتِ الشموسُ بها علينا

تغَضَّبَتِ الشموسُ بها علينا

وماجَت فوقَ أرؤسِنا البحارُ

وماجَت فوقَ أرؤسِنا البحارُ

The suns there grew angry with us,

Therein the suns glared down upon us in wrath,

And seas surged above our heads,

While oceans surged and crashed above our heads.

حنينَ البُختِ وَدَّعَها حجيجٌ

حنينَ البُختِ وَدَّعَها حجيجٌ

كأنَّ خيامَنا لهمُ جمارُ

كأنَّ خيامَنا لهمُ جمارُ

With the moaning of Bactrian camels as pilgrims bid them farewell,

Like the moaning of camels when pilgrims bid farewell,

As though our tents were their targets for ritual stoning.

As though our tents were the stones they cast in the rite.

فلا حيّا الإلهُ ديارَ بكرٍ

فلا حيّا الإلهُ ديارَ بكرٍ

ولا روَّت مزارِعَها القِطارُ

ولا روَّت مزارِعَها القِطارُ

So may God never bless Diyar Bakr,

So may God never grant greeting to the dwellings of Bakr,

Nor may the rains water its fields.

Nor may the pouring rains ever quench its fields.

بلادٌ لا سمينٌ من رعاها

بلادٌ لا سمينٌ من رعاها

ولا حسَنٌ بأهليها اليسارُ

ولا حسَنٌ بأهليها اليسارُ

A land where none who graze grows fat,

A land where the grazer finds no sustenance to thrive,

Nor is wealth becoming to its people.

And where wealth bestows no grace upon its people.

إذا لُبِسَ الدروعُ ليومِ بُؤس

إذا لُبِسَ الدروعُ ليومِ بُؤس

فأحسَنُ ما لَبِستَ بها الفرارُ

فأحسَنُ ما لَبِستَ بها الفرارُ

When armor is donned for a day of battle,

If coats of mail are donned for a day of wretched war,

Then the finest thing you can wear there is flight.

The finest garb you can wear within it is flight.