الضحايا معناهم الشهداء

الألى بعد موتهم احياءُ

The victims—meaning the martyrs,

those who are alive after their death.

سئموا الأرض موطناً ومقاما

فغدت تنتمي اليهم سماء

They wearied of earth as home and dwelling,

so heaven came to claim kinship with them.

وتسامت ارواحهم عن حياة

من هباء شؤونها استهزاء

And their souls rose above a life

of dust, whose affairs are a mockery.

لا يضير الضحايا ان يدرجوا الاك

فان موتى وانهم اشلاء

It does not harm the victims to be wrapped in shrouds,

dead, their bodies torn to pieces.

ما هم اشقياءُ لكن شقي

كل من قال عنهم اشقياء

They are not wretched; rather, wretched is

everyone who calls them wretched.

والشقي الشقي من يظلم النا

س فيشقى بظلمه الضعفاء

And the truly wretched is he who oppresses the people,

so that the weak suffer through his injustice.

والسعيد السعيد من اسلم الرو

ح وفي قلبه يشع الضياء

And the truly happy is he who yields up his soul,

while radiance shines within his heart.

والالى قد قضوا قبيل ليال

في سبيل الاوطان هم سعداء

And those who died a few nights ago

for their homelands' sake—they are happy.

هم ضحايا اوطانهم واسود

لفظتهم من جوفها صحراء

They are their homelands' victims, and lions

whom a desert cast forth from its depths.

زهدوا في الحياة لا تستبيهم

كأس خمر وغادة غيداء

They renounced life; they are not captivated by

a cup of wine or a supple, graceful maiden.

انقياء القلوب يرجون وجه اللَه

يدعون ان يجاب الرجاء

Pure of heart, they yearn for God's face,

praying that their hope be answered.

فقراء لا يطلبون ثراء

غير ان يلحدوا وهم شرفاء

Poor, they seek no wealth,

save to be buried with their honor intact.

بسلاء ما استسلموا لعدو

غاشم من ورائه اعداء

Valiant, they never surrendered to an enemy,

ruthless, with enemies behind him.

بل مضوا يرخصون أغلى نفوس

لم يصبها من الكفاح عياء

Instead, they went forth, holding the dearest lives cheap—

lives untouched by weariness from struggle.

وقضوا في سبيل احياء ذكرى

فكرة كم اعزها شهداء

And they died to revive the memory

of an idea that martyrs so often held dear.

وارتقوا في مراتب الروح افقا

طافه قبل موتهم انبياء

And through the spirit's ranks they rose to a horizon

that prophets had traversed before their death.

هؤلاء تعدهم في الضحايا

الالى بالخلود هم احرياء

These you count among the victims,

those who are worthy of immortality.

خلدتهم بطولة وارتخاص

للمنايا وهمة قعساء

They were immortalized by heroism, disdain

for death, and indomitable resolve.

ضاقت الأرض بالذي كان فيهم

من إباء وضاقت الجوزاء

Earth grew too narrow for what was in them

of proud defiance; even al-Jawza grew too narrow.

وابوا عيشة الهوان وان يح

يوا وفيهم مروءة واباء

They refused a life of humiliation, refusing to live

while honor and proud defiance still dwelt within them.

فابتغوا ينفضون عنهم غبار ال

ذل شيئاً في سره أشياء

So they sought, shaking from themselves the dust of

humiliation, something whose secret held many things.

وسقوا تربة الثرى بنجيع

فانتشت واستخفها استحياء

And they watered the earth's soil with fresh blood,

and it grew rapt, swept away by bashfulness.

فإذا بالثرى فراديس عدن

وإذا بالنجميع عشب وماء

And behold, the earth becomes gardens of Eden,

and behold, the blood becomes grass and water.

وإذا بالطيور تشدو أغاري

د البكاء وفي بكاها عزاء

And behold, the birds sing songs

of weeping, and in their weeping is solace.

وغذا بالزهور تعبق بالنش

ر الذكي فتنتشي الأرجاء

And behold, the flowers exude a fragrance

so heady that all around grows rapt.

والنسيم يهب وهو عليل

والسواقي انينها اصداء

And the breeze blows, ailing,

and the streams' moans are echoes.

والدراري تشع نوراً مذابا

في فضاء تحفه افضاء

And the radiant stars shed molten light

in an expanse encircled by expanses.

والأماني ترف نشوى عذابا

وعليها من الهدوء غشاء

And hopes flutter, sweet and intoxicated,

with a veil of calm over them.

وتغني عرائس الشعر لحنا

فيه ذاب الهوى وماس الهواء

And the brides of poetry sing a melody

in which love melted and the air swayed.

والضحايا لولا الخلود لكانت

وهي والميتين حتفاً سواء

And the victims, were it not for immortality, would be

no different from those who died a natural death.