أنسيتَني يا حادثَ الصربِ ما

أَزْعَجَ من أمرٍ وما أَعْجَبا

You forgot me, O epitome of patience, neither

Troubled by anything nor marveling.

مُمَلَّكٌ يقتلُهُ جندُهُ

ويعتلي بعدَ السريرِ الظُبَى

A possessed king whom his troops would kill,

And after the throne hyenas would mount.

وما جنى ذنباً سوى أنه

أحبَّ فاستسهل ما استصعبا

He sinned no sin but that

He loved, so he eased what was arduous.

يا معشرَ الصربِ وما مُسمِعٌ

صوتي غَوِيّاً للعَمَى استعذبا

O band of endurance, no voice of mine

Has tempted the blind to find sweet.

نلتم من الأتراك حريةً

كانت إلى الشر لكم مركبا

You won from the Turks a freedom

That for you was a vessel onto evil.

على يدَيْ جدِّ الصريعِ الذي

أنساكمُ سيِّئُهُ الطيِّبا

At the hands of the slain ancestor who

Forgot you; his foul hid his fair.

قد كان بالرحمة أولى وإن

رأيتموه في الهوى مذنبا

It would have been meet with mercy, even

If you saw him desirous in passion.

نظامكم فوضى وأهواؤكم

شتى وأضحى سعيكم معطبا

Your system chaos, your whims

Diverse, and your striving is marred.

لا يستوي للصرب أمر إلى

أن تمنع الرحمة أو تسلبا

No command of the Serbs shall be set right

Till mercy be denied or taken away.

القيد والأغلال أولى بمن

جن فآذى أمَّه والأبا

Fetters and shackles are owed to him

Who erred, then hurt his mother and father.

فما لمن جرب لا يهتدي

أما كفاه طول ما جربا

Can he who has tried and cannot see reason

Be surfeited by all he has tried?