1. ؟ ؟

    ؟

    O heart, where are you? Where has my mind gone?

    And with what letter might I write in my notebooks?

  2. When you departed for the beautiful women, while you were at

    the peak of glory and radiant youth,

  3. and abandoned my dreams and the pens of love,

    and went to the lowing of al-Samiri's calf,

  4. and refused to stay with me, as though we were

    two foes fighting without armies.

  5. ؟

    O heart, where are you? And life is short,

    and union is shorter than a passing vision.

  6. ؟!!

    ؟

    What am I to do if a traitor denies affection?

    What am I to do if loved ones wound my feelings?

  7. ؟ ؟

    Why do I see you vanish? Where have they rained down

    upon you—love's morning clouds—at this early hour?

  8. ؟

    Do your yearning and love turn toward the lands of al-Sham?

    And the tears of your eye are like copious, pouring rain.

  9. ؟

    Or toward Sana'a, for whose doves

    you yearn, and for its gentle, fragrant scent?

  10. : ؟

    ؟ ؟

    O heart, tell me: where are you, and what do you see?

    Do you love, or relish the wounds to my feelings?

  11. And it answers from behind the ribs, as though it

    were captive, weeping because of the captor's chains.

  12. And says: your heart no longer has the strength

    to remain patiently here for another fetter.

  13. I am no longer, among people, anything but a poet;

    nothing but poetry is all I boast of.

  14. In truth, I am a poet and a warrior,

    and my passion, in my love of struggle, is Algerian.

  15. Indeed, Algeria and the struggle are my epics,

    recounted when the tongue conceals my secrets.

  16. Indeed, Algeria and the struggle fell in love with each other,

    and I loved those two lovers—so beware.

  17. ( )

    And I took to trenches of hell's terror,

    and became one of Abd al-Qadir's followers.

  18. A homeland clothed in a thin garment of sacrifice,

    and my coats and waistcloths are made of lofty pride.

  19. ؟

    And surely the Aurès revolution is the fullest lesson:

    by what law, then, should I bow to the oppressor?

  20. And by what measure of reason will he yield—the

    tyrant—except through surging struggle?

  21. Indeed, the country's liberation is a trust

    owed to God, borne upon the neck of the cleaving sword.

  22. I no longer fall in love while the land is captive,

    and a defiled one toys with pure honor.

  23. I am no longer known as a lover, besotted;

    indeed, the young women have come to hate my jewels.

  24. I no longer recognize manhood's due,

    since my bird hovered around the sanctuary of humiliation.

  25. Forgive me if the eyes of my inkwells have dried,

    and I have drawn from the abundant sea of love.

  26. The eloquent poet has the wings of glory

    among his people; anyone else is no poet.

  27. Indeed, I have been patient, though forcing patience brings humiliation;

    I still hope for the reward of the patient.

  28. And I have loathed the rebukes of those who hold back from glory,

    and grown weary of admonition and the rebuker's prohibitions.

  29. ()

    And I have repudiated the accursed veto and its injustice;

    indeed, with the struggle I have become Algerian.

Sol 6.1