لَئن حبَسُوا جسمِي بجُدرانِ سِجنهِم

فما حبَسُوا رُوحي ولا حبَسُوا قلبِي

Even if they imprison my body within the walls of their prison,

they have not imprisoned my spirit, nor have they imprisoned my heart;

ولا حَبسُوا مِني خَيالاً مرفرفا

يُحَوِّم مِن سِرِّ الحَياةِ علَى اللُّبِّ

nor have they imprisoned the fluttering imagination within me,

hovering from life’s mystery over the mind’s very core.

ولا حَبسُوا مِني ضَمِيرا عَرفتُه

فأرضيتُهُ جَهدِي وإرضاؤهُ حَسبِي

Nor have they imprisoned within me a conscience I have known;

I satisfied it as best I could, and its satisfaction is enough for me.

على ان لي في السجن متعة خاطر

لقيت صحابا فيه من خيرة الصحب

Yet in prison I have a comfort for the spirit:

there I found companions among the finest of companions.

شُعورُهُم نحوِي شُعورِىَ نَحوَهُم

وأكلُهُمُ أكلِي وشربُهمُ شُربِي

Their feeling toward me is the feeling I bear toward them;

what they eat, I eat, and what they drink, I drink.