سلام البيانِ وفتيانهِ

عليكم معاشرَ اعوانه

Greetings of eloquence and its youths

Upon you O company of its supporters

لأنتم مؤمَّل ملهوفه

وأنتم مؤمنُ فزعانه

For you are my hopeful longing

And you are my anxious believers

ولولا بقية أمثالكم

لضاعت بقية قحطانه

And were it not for the rest of your likes

The rest of Qahtan's lineage would be lost

ففي الشرق باغٍ على حقه

وشانٍ يغير على شانه

So in the East there is an unjust garden

Whose affairs are changed according to its whims

أصيب البيان بما راعه

وهز رواسخ أركانه

Eloquence was stricken by what alarmed it

And shook the pillars of its pillars

بكل دخيلٍ على ثوبه

تغلغلَ داخلَ قمصانه

With every foreigner to its garb

Who infiltrated inside its shirts

فعاثَ ببهجة منثوره

وفكَّ قلائد عِقيانه

So he corrupted the splendor of its scattered pearls

And undid the necklaces of its good youths

واطمع باقلَ من مجده

بإرث سلالة سحبانه

And coveted from its glory, less than its glory

The inheritance of the lineage of Suhban

فبات يثغثغُ في داره

دعيٌّ المَّ بديوانه

So he spent the night twittering in its abode

A petitioner with its registry

وحلَّ الغرابُ على روضه

محلّ الحمامة من بانه

And crows descended upon its meadow

In place of the doves of its structure

أرى الشرق يمنع عيني ترى

أديباً عزيزاً باحضانه

I see the East preventing my eyes from seeing

A precious literate in its bosom

أراه يهيم بطاغوته

ويزري بعترة لقمانه

I see it infatuated with its tyrant

And intimate with the honorable family of Luqman

ويشقي الصحافي في ارضه

لينعم كسرى بإيوانه

And making the journalist miserable in its land

So that Chosroes may enjoy his palace

ويولي المشانق اعناقنا

فدى للامير وتيجانه

And putting nooses around our necks

As ransom for the prince and his crown

ويغذي المنايا باكبادنا

لتسلم مهجةُ سلطانه

And feeding deaths with our livers

So that the beloved of its sultan may be safe

تعدى وصيةَ انجيله

وخالف آية قرآنه

Transgressing the testament of its Bible

And violating a verse of its Qur’an

فهذا يضج على شيخه

وذاك يصيح بمطرانه

So this one cries out against its sheikh

And that one shouts at its bishop

هو الشرق يكرم عُماته

ويرعى قلانس رهبانه

It is the East that honors its midwives

And observes the skullcaps of its monks

ويعنى بكل فتىً آمرٍ

ولو هو اصغر غلمانه

And is concerned with every commanding lad

Even if he is the youngest of its lads

واما الأديبُ ففيه يذلُّ

وقد عزَّ خارج أوطانه

As for the literate, it humiliates him in it

Although he is honored outside its homelands

يروع الصحافة ان لا ترى

فتاها كثيراً بإخوانه

It frightens the press lest it see

Many of its youths with its brothers

يموت ليسعد لبنانه

ويحيا شقياً بلبنانه

He dies so that Lebanon may be happy

And he lives miserably in Lebanon

وكم ليلةٍ باتها ساهراً

يعضُّ اليراع بأسنانه

And how many nights he spent awake

Biting his fingers with his teeth

وذو البغي لاوٍ على ناهدٍ

يُداعب ناضج رمانه

While the unjust is crouching over a sleeping lover

Caressing her ripe pomegranate

يهون عليه تبيد الديارُ

وتقضي لبانة شيطانه

The ruin of homes is easy for him

And the perdition of Lebanon's devil

وذو المالِ خالٍ إلى ماله

يقبل وجنةَ رنانه

And the moneyed man is intimate with his money

Kissing the cheek of his soft singing girl

وقسط الصحافة من كفهِ

كقسطِ مؤملِ احسانه

And the press's share from his palm

Is like the share of his wishful generosity

أما في البلاد اخو همةٍ

يجرُّ العتيَّ بآذانه

As for in the countries a brother of determination

Dragging the lame with his ears

بردُّ الأديب إلى تخته

يعيد الغبي إلى خانه

The return of the literate to his throne

Is the return of the fool to his inn

كفى ما شهدنا من المضحكات

لهذا الزمان وصبيانه

Enough of what we have witnessed of laughters

For this time and its youths

افدوى فديتك لا تجزعي

لبث الأديب واحزانه

Heal, my redemption, do not despair

Of the literate's staying and his sorrows

وغني حمامة غني له

فسجعك يمضي بأشجانه

And sing, dove, sing to him

For your twittering makes his passions sober

وخلي الانيس بألحانه

يسوق النفوس إلى حانه

And let the intimate one with his tunes

Lead the souls to the tavern

فنحن بنو دولةٍ نلتقي

كراحِ الربيعِ وريحانه

For we are the children of a state who meet

Like the winds of spring and its basil

إلى الخلد نعلو بأحلامنا

ندق نوافذ رضوانه

With our dreams we ascend to eternity

Knocking on the windows of its gardens

وهذا يطير بأشعاره

وذاك يطير بألحانه

And this one flies with his poems

While that one flies with his tunes

يميناً بديني يمين امرئٍ

يفي للمسيح وقربانه

By my religion, the oath of a man

Who fulfills to Christ and his sacrifice

لو أن النبوغ له وزنه

وفي الشرق منصب ميزانه

If genius had its weight

And scales were erected in the East

لكان فتاناً فتىً راجحاً

وداس معاطس أقرانه

He would be a superior young man

And would trample his peers

ولكن للشرق يوماً يجيءُ

فيا نفس صبراً لا بانه

But the East will have a day that comes

So O soul, patience, do not appear