صِلُوا إخوانكم واقضوا الذّماما

وبُلّوا من جوانحنا الأَواما

Reconcile with your brothers and fulfill your promises,

And allow our hearts some respite from sorrow.

رُوَيْداً بالقلوبِ بَنِي أبينا

أما تَسْقُونها إلا ضِراما

Gently, O sons of our father,

Do you only give them bitter water to drink?

لَعمرُ الرّافِدَيْنِ لقد لَبِثْنَا

نُعلَّلُ بالمُنَى عاماً فعاما

By the life of the two rivers, we have lingered

Sick with yearning, for years and years,

نُذادُ عن الحِياضِ ونحن هِيمٌ

فما نَرِدُ النِّطافَ ولا الجِماما

Guarding the riverbanks while losing ourselves,

No longer visiting its springs or collecting its water.

رُويداً قومَنا إنّا وَجَدنا

قطيعةَ قومِنا داءً عُقاما

Gently, O my people! We have found

That our people’s abandonment is an incurable disease.

وما نبغي إذا رُمْنا انتصافاً

إلى شيءٍ سوى الكرمِ احْتِكاما

When we seek justice, we want no recourse

Except an appeal to generosity.

عَهِدناكم على الأحداثِ أهلاً

ذَوي حَسَبٍ وإخواناً كراما

We knew you in your youth to have lineage

And to be honorable brothers.

فزوروا أرضَنا أو فاجعلوها

وإن غَضِبَ العراقُ لكم مُقاما

So visit our land or make it a refuge,

Even if Iraq grows angry at you.

أَيَغضَبُ أن يُحِبَّ أخٌ أخاه

وهل يأبى لِشملهما التئاما

How could it be angry that a brother loves his brother?

Is it possible that their reunion could be prevented?

وجدنا الرِيَّ يُنكِرُه علينا

وإن أودى الغليلُ بنا حراما

We found that departure saddens us,

Even if ardent love destroys us, it is forbidden.

ما تُفارِقُها قلوبٌ

لنا كالطّيرِ رفرف ثُمَّ حاما

Our hearts cannot leave it—

They are like birds fluttering then swooping.

مضت أسرابُها فهفت رِياحاً

ومَرَّتْ في مَسابحها غَماما

Their flocks have flown off, stirring the winds.

They passed through the waters, clouds trailing them,

فَما أَوفَتْ على النَّهريْنِ حتَّى

تخَطَّفَها الهَوى فَهوتْ رُكاما

Until over the two rivers they were seized

By yearning and tumbled down in pieces.

حُماةَ الرّافِدَيْنِ لوِ اسْتَطَعْنا

جعلنا النيِّريْنِ لكم سلاما

Protectors of the two rivers, if only we could

Make the two streams into a greeting for you.

سَلامٌ مِن شُعاعِ الشِّعرِ صَافٍ

أُرَقْرِقُه فَيَنْسَجِمُ انْسِجَاما

A greeting from the shining rays of poetry

Whose threads interweave harmoniously,

يَظلُّ سَناهُ مِلءَ الأرضِ يجري

فيكشف عن جَوانبهُ الظّلاما

Its brightness covering the earth endlessly

Revealing its depths and dispelling the darkness.

وَفَدْتُمْ في مَواكبَ من عُصورٍ

أُعِيدَ جلالُها فَبَدتُ عِظاما

You have arrived in a procession of eras

Whose majesty has been restored to greatness,

عُصورٌ أَقْبَلتْ مِنّا ومنكم

تُحدّثُ عن أُبُوَّتِنا القُدامَى

Eras that came to us and you

Speaking of our ancient kinship,

تُجَرِّدُ منِ أَسِنَّتِهم لِسَاناً

وتُرسِلُ من أعِنَّتِهِم كلاما

Stripping tongues from their mouths

And sending speech from their eyes.

ذَكرناهم فحرَّكهم مَطيفٌ

من الذّكرى وإن أَمْسُوا رِماما

We remembered them and a breeze stirred them

Though they were only dust.

وكَبَّرتِ العُروبةُ إذ رَأَتْنا

فَهبُّوا مِن مَضاجِعهم قياما

Arabism magnified when it saw us

Rising from their resting places to stand tall.

أراهُمْ يَرفَعُونَ كما عَهِدْنا

وَراءَ الجمعِ أعناقاً وهاما

I see them raising their necks proudly

Behind the crowd, like pillars.

عِمُوا آباءَنا طَفَلاً وَطيبُوا

فإنّ لكم لَعِزّاً لن يُضاما

They have gone blind, O dear sons!

For you have a power that cannot be subdued.

أَعَدْنا الشَّرقَ سيرتَهُ وقُمْنا

نُعالِجُ أمرَهُ حتّى استقاما

We have restored the East to its ways

And continued to set its affairs right,

أَهابَ بنا الزّمانُ وأيقظتنا

قوارعُ تُوقِظُ الأُمَمَ النّياما

The times have inspired us and awakened us

With clashes that rouse sleeping nations.

نَذودُ الوحشَ تطلُبنا جِياعاً

ونأبَى أن نكون لها طعاما

We fight off the beasts who hunt us hungry

And refuse to become their food.

ولولا أن نُدافِعَها لأَفنتْ

بقيَّتَنا اقتناصاً والتهاما

If we did not defend against them, they would destroy

The last of us, seizing and consuming.

أراها حولنا عَجْلىَ تَرامَى

كموجِ البحرِ تزدحمُ ازدحاما

I see them crowded around us,

Surging like sea waves in great throngs.

وراءَكِ واطْلُبِي قَنَصاً سوانا

فإنّ لُحومَنا أمست سِماما

Begone from here and seek weaker prey,

For our flesh has become poison.

متى تَعصي النّصيحَ فَتُطْعِمِيها

كعهدِكِ تُطعَمِي الموتَ الزُّؤاما

When will you disobey counsel and feed them

As is your custom, feeding them lethal poison?

أبى لِبَنِي العُروبةِ أن يَهونوا

قُوىً لن تُستطاعَ ولن تَراما

The Arab people refuse to be humiliated,

Submitting to the impossible, never to be bent.

لَئِنْ أخذتهمُ الغاراتُ تَتْرَى

فما وَهَنُوا ولا مَلُّوا الصِّداما

If they are raided continuously,

They do not weaken or refrain from clashing.

مُضيّاً في الجهادِ بَنِي أبينا

وضَنّاً بالعُروبةِ واعتصاما

Marching on in jihad, O sons of our father,

Clinging to Arabism and banding together,

بِدجلَة والفراتِ إذا نزلتُمْ

فحيّوا فيهما الشَّعبَ الهُماما

When you descend upon the Tigris and Euphrates,

Greet the valiant nation within them.

وإن عَدَتِ العوادِي فاذكرونا

وقولوا أُمّةٌ ترعى الذِّماما

And when the storms have passed, remember us

And say: A nation that tends to its promises.