رب ضاقت مـلاعبي

رب ضاقت مـلاعبي

فـي الـدروب الـمقيدة

فـي الـدروب الـمقيدة

O Lord, my playgrounds have narrowed

My Lord, my haunts have narrowed

in the fettered paths.

On roads all blocked and winding

أنـا عـمر مـخضب

أنـا عـمر مـخضب

وأمـانٍ   مـشـردة

وأمـانٍ مـشـردة

I am a stained life

My age is stained with blood

and displaced hopes,

And scattered refuges unbinding

ونـشـيد خـنقت فـي

ونـشـيد خـنقت فـي

كـبـريـائي  تـنـهده

كـبـريـائي تـنـهده

and a song—I stifled, within

A song within me choked and stilled

my pride, its sigh.

Sighing beneath my pride unyielding

رب مـا زلـت  ضاربا

رب مـا زلـت ضاربا

مــن زمـاني تـمرده

مــن زمـاني تـمرده

O Lord, I am still beating

My Lord, my rebellion undefeated

the defiance out of my time.

Since time itself began its building

صـغر  اليأس لن  يرى

صـغر اليأس لن يرى

بـين  عـيني  مـقصده

بـين عـيني مـقصده

Despair has dwindled; it will not see

Despair will never understand

its goal between my eyes.

What vision fills my eyes unfleeting

بـسـمـاتي سـخـية

بـسـمـاتي سـخـية

وجـراحـي مـضمدة

وجـراحـي مـضمدة

My smiles are generous,

My smiles are bounteous still

and my wounds are bandaged.

My wounds securely dressed and healing