يُهينُ رِجالٌ في الحَياةِ نُفوسَهُم

وَأَطلُبُ أَن أَحيا مَهيباً مُكَرَّما

Men degrade themselves in life

Yet I seek to live with dignity and honor

وَيَضرِبُ قَومٌ في البِلادِ لَعَلَّهُم

يُصيبونَ مالاً أَو يَنالونَ مَغنَما

Some roam the lands hoping

To gain wealth or spoils

وَأَرمي بِنَفسي في مَآزِقَ جَمَّةٍ

أُغيثُ أولي البَلوى وَأَشفي ذَوي العَمى

But I hurl myself into perilous straits

To aid the afflicted and give sight to the blind

إِذا ما رَأَوني طالِعاً مِن ثَنِيَّةٍ

تَنادَوا هَلُمّوا قَد أَصَبنا مُحَرَّما

When they see me emerge from the mountain pass

They cry "come, we have found a protector"

وَجاءوا سِراعاً يَنفِضونَ شَكاتَهُم

إِلَيَّ وَيُبدونَ الحَديثَ المُكَتَّما

And they rush to me, unburdening their sorrows

Speaking to me words long suppressed

لِكُلٍّ مِنَ المَكروهِ داءٌ يُمِضُّهُ

وَشَجوٌ يُريهِ العَيشَ أَغبَرَ أَقتَما

Each has a malady that consumes him

And grief that makes life bleak and gloomy

فَما يَذكُرُ الأَبناءَ إِلّا بَكى لَها

وَلا يَبعَثُ الأَنفاسَ إِلّا تَأَلَّما

If he recalls his children, he weeps for them

And his breath comes only with agony

حَمَلتُ مِنَ الأَعباءِ ما لَو نَفَضتُهُ

عَلى جَبَلٍ سامي الذُرى لَتَهَدَّما

I bear burdens that if cast upon

A lofty mountain, would cause it to crumble

هُمومٌ وَآلامٌ وَحاجاتُ أُمَّةٍ

تَهِمُّ وَيَأبى الظُلمُ أَن تَتَقَدَّما

Cares, pains, the needs of a nation

That suffers, while injustice refuses to abate

تَكَنَّفَها قَومٌ ظِماءٌ وَجُوَّعٌ

فَما وَجَدوا إِلّا شَراباً وَمَطعَما

Encompassed by the wicked and the starving

Who found only food and drink from me

فَما نَنسَ مِن سوءٍ ذَكَرنا حُكومَةً

أَقامَت عَلى مِصرٍ مِنَ الظُلمِ قَيِّما

Whenever we mention the days of tyranny

That established endless wrongs in Egypt

وَمَهما حَمِدنا مِن عُهودٍ وَأَعصُرٍ

فَلَن نَحمَدَ العَهدَ البَغيضَ المُذَمَّما

However much we praise eras and dynasties

We'll never praise this abhorrent accursed age

نَئِنُّ وَيَأبى القَومُ أَن نَتَكَلَّما

وَما يَملِكُ الصَمتُ اللِسانَ وَلا الفَما

We moan, but the people refuse to let us speak

Neither silence nor mouths can be controlled by the tongue

رَأَوا حُمَمَ الأَفواهِ يَرمي بِها الأَسى

فَصاغوا لَها سَدّاً مِنَ النارِ مُحكَما

Seeing the muzzles on our mouths, sorrow hurls at them

So they built a barrier of fire, unbreachable

عَلى كُلِّ سَطرٍ مالِكٌ مِن قُضاتِهِم

يُعِدُّ لَنا في كُلِّ حَرفٍ جَهَنَّما

For every line, their judges prepare hell

In every letter, should we dissent or condemn

إِذا اِستَصرَخَ المَكروبُ مِنّا مُؤَمَّلاً

أَكَبَّ يُديرُ الرَأيَ ثُمَّتَ هَوَّما

When the anguished cry out to us, hoping

They deliberate, then equivocate and waver

ظَلَلنا جُموداً ما نَثورُ لِمُؤلِمٍ

وَلا نَدفَعُ المُغتالَ أَن يَتَهَجَّما

We have become frozen, never rising against torment

Nor stopping the assassin from drawing near

عُيونٌ وَأَرصادٌ عَلى غَيرِ حاجَةٍ

وَمِن شيمَةِ المُرتابِ أَن يَتَوَهَّما

Eyes upon us, though we have no need for suspicion

For it is the mark of the doubter to imagine and presume

إِذا دَلَفَ الأَعمى تَلَفَّتَ حَولَهُ

يَظُنُّ فُضولَ الثَوبِ كَفّاً وَمِعصَما

When the blind man enters, they look around him

Suspecting the excess cloth to hide a weapon

أَكُلَّ وَفِيٍّ يَزعُمونَ مُشاغِباً

وَكُلَّ أَبِيٍّ يَحسَبُ القَومُ مُجرِما

They call every loyalist a troublemaker

And consider every person of conscience a criminal

لَقَد هَمَّ راعي السوءِ أَن يَتَحَكَّما

فَصادَفَ قَوماً غافِلينَ وَنُوَّما

Indeed, the guardian of evil thought to gain control

But found people heedless and asleep

رُوَيداً بَني التاميزِ إِنَّ وَراءَكُم

مِنَ الهَولِ يَوماً يَقذِفُ النارَ وَالدَما

Gently, people of privilege, behind you

Lies a day that hurls fire and blood

رَمَيتُم بَني مِصرٍ بِسَهمٍ مِنَ الأَذى

فَظُنّوا بِرامٍ يَملَأُ الدَهرَ أَسهُما

You shot the people of Egypt with arrows of harm

And thought yourselves archers filling the ages with arrows

مَخوفِ الوَغى يَرمي بِطوفانِ بَأسِهِ

فَتُمسي شُعوبُ الأَرضِ غَرقى وَعُوَّما

The fearsome warrior hurls the flood of his might

And the peoples of earth become drowned and adrift

سَيُصبِحُ مُلكُ التُركِ بَعدَ هُنَيهَةٍ

رَفيعَ الذُرى ما يُستَباحُ لَهُ حِمى

The Ottoman empire will one day soon

Be lofty, with no sanctuaries inviolable to it

إِذا ما بَنو عُثمانَ هَزّوا سُيوفَهُم

فَقُل لِبَني التاميزِ هُزّوا المُقَطَّما

When the Ottomans unsheathe their swords

Tell the privileged to unsheathe what remains of theirs

يُعَدّونَهُ سَيفاً عَلى الدَهرِ مُصلتاً

وَجَيشاً يَهَزُّ الخافِقينَ عَرَمرَما

They count it a sword ever-victorious

And an army shaking the battlefields

وَيَعتَدُّهُ نِمرٌ وَأَشياخُ قَومِهِ

أَجَلَّ مِنَ الأَسطولِ شَأناً وَأَعظَما

Their leader and elders count it a tiger

Greater than armadas in might and esteem

إِذا ضاقَ عَنهُم بِأسُهُم جاشَ بَأسُهُ

وَإِن أَحجَموا في حَومَةِ الحَربِ أَقدَما

When their onslaught overwhelms, his onslaught rages

And if they recoil from the fury of war, he charges ahead

كَأَنّي بِهِ أَمسى هَباءً مُبَدَّداً

وَأَمسَت مَواليهِ حَديثاً مُرَجَّما

I see him turning them into scattered dust

And their loyalists into tales retold and fragmented