سَلاَ لاَ سَلاَ قَلْبِي بِأَرْجَائِكِ الْغُبْرِ

وَلاَ بَرِحَتْ نَفْسِي تَسُومُكِ بِالْهَجْرِ

No peace, no peace my heart finds in your ruins

Salé, my heart found no solace in your dusty expanses,

And my soul cannot cease wandering in estrangement

And my soul has never ceased to subject you to abandonment.

فَمَا فيِ سَلاَ شَيْءٌ يُسَلِّي ذَوِي الأَسَى

سِوَى بَحْرِهَا الزَّخَّارِ ذِي الُّلجَجِ السُّمْرِ

There is nothing in peace that comforts the sorrowful

For there is nothing in Salé to comfort those stricken with sorrow,

Except for its roaring sea, tumultuous and murky

Except its swelling sea with its dark, rolling depths.

وَأَحْسِبُهُ لَمَّا تَرَاكَمَ مَوْجُهُ

تَصَيَّعَ فِيهَا اللُّجُّ بِالزَّبَدِ الْمُرِّ

And I reckon, when its waves accumulated

And I reckon that when its waves piled high,

The scum foamed amidst it in turbid froth

Its deep waters dispersed within it with bitter froth.

فَأَمْسَتْ قَرَاراً لِلْيَهُودِ وَطَالَمَا

زَهَتْ بِذَوِي الأَخْطَارِ وَالْمَنْصِبِ الْخَطْرِ

So it has become a settlement for the Jews, for long

Then it became a settlement for the Jews, though for so long

It has flourished with the noteworthy and men of high rank

It had boasted of men of eminence and distinguished rank,

كَمِثْلِ ابْنِ حَسُّونِ الرِّضَى وَابْنِ عَاشِرِ

فَنَاهِيكَ مِنْ قَرْمٍ وَنَاهِيكَ مِنْ حَبْرِ

Like Ibn Hassoun Al-Ridha and Ibn Ashir

Like Ibn Hassun, the favored, and Ibn Ashir;

So enough of a coward, enough of an inky pen

What an outstanding leader, and what an outstanding scholar!

فَأَكْرِمْ بِهَا إِذْ حَلَّهَا كُلُّ مَاجِدٍ

وَأَخْبِثْ بِهَا إِذْ حُوِّلَتْ مَنْزِلَ الْكُفْرِ

Honor it, since every glorious one has lodged it

How noble it was when every glorious figure settled within it,

And dishonor it, since it has become the abode of blasphemy

And how vile it is now, transformed into an abode of disbelief.