أَعلى المَمالِكِ ما كُرسِيُّهُ الماءُ

وَما دِعامَتُهُ بِالحَقِّ شَمّاءُ

Upon the highest of Kingdoms its throne is water

And its pillar in truth high and eminent

يا جيرَةَ المَنشِ حَلّاكُم أُبُوَّتُكُم

ما لَم يُطَوِّق بِهِ الأَبناءُ آباءُ

O neighbors of civilization, your kinship was wholesome

As long as fathers were not encompassed by sons

مُلكٌ يُطاوِلُ الشَمسَ عِزَّتُهُ

في الغَربِ باذِخَةٌ في الشَرقِ قَعساءُ

A kingdom whose grandeur contends with the sun

In the west most glorious, in the east most humble

تَأوي الحَقيقَةُ مِنهُ وَالحُقوقُ إِلى

رُكنٍ بَناهُ مِنَ الأَخلاقِ بَنّاءُ

Where truth and rights take refuge

In a pillar built by a constructor of morals

أَعلاهُ بِالنَظَرِ العالي وَنَطَّقَهُ

بِحائِطِ الرَأيِ أَشياخٌ أَجِلّاءُ

Lofty is its top with sublime vision and eloquent

With the wall of opinion are its venerable elders

وَحاطَهُ بِالقَنا فِتيانُ مَملَكَةٍ

في السِلمِ زَهرُ رُبىً في الرَوعِ أَرزاءُ

And girding it are the youths of a kingdom

In the shade, flowers of growth, in calamity, lofty cedars

يُستَصرَخونَ وَيُرجى فَضلُ نَجدَتِهِم

كَأَنَّهُم عَرَبٌ في الدَهرِ عَرباءُ

Called upon and their bounty of help hoped for

As though they are Arabs through the ages, pure Arabs

وَدَولَةٌ لا يَراها الظَنُّ مِن سِعَةٍ

وَلا وَراءَ مَداها فيهِ عَلياءُ

And a state whose wideness fancy does not conceive

Nor beyond its expanse is there any haughtiness

عَصماءُ لا سَبَبُ الرَحمَنِ مُطَّرَحٌ

فيها وَلا رَحِمُ الإِنسانِ قَطعاءُ

Guarded, where the cause of the Merciful is not discarded

Nor the womb of humanity severed

تِلكَ الجَزائِرُ كانَت تَحتَهُم رُكناً

وَراءَهُنَّ لِباغي الصَيدِ عَنقاءُ

Those islands were pillars beneath them

And beyond them to the hunter of prey a refuge

وَكانَ وُدُّهُمُ الصافي وَنُصرَتُهُم

لِلمُسلِمينَ وَراعيهِم كَما شاؤوا

And their unsullied affection and their support

Were for the Muslims and their guardian as they desired

دُستورُهُم عَجَبُ الدُنيا وَشاعِرُهُم

يَدٌ عَلى خَلقِهِ لِلَّهِ بَيضاءُ

Their constitution is the wonder of the world and their poet

A hand above creation belongs to Allah, pristine white

ما أَنجَبَت مِثلَ شيكِسبيرَ حاضِرَةٌ

وَلا نَمَت مِن كَريمِ الطَيرِ غَنّاءُ

No civilization has given birth to the likes of Shakespeare

Nor has the noblest of birds produced a singer

نالَت بِهِ وَحدَهُ إِنكِلتِرا شَرَفاً

ما لَم تَنَل بِالنُجومِ الكُثرِ جَوزاءُ

With him alone has England attained a nobility

That the many stars did not attain altogether

لَم تُكشَفِ النَفسُ لَولاهُ وَلا بُلِيَت

لَها سَرائِرُ لا تُحصى وَأَهواءُ

The soul would not have been uncovered nor would

Its secrets and passions unknown have been exposed

شِعرٌ مِنَ النَسَقِ الأَعلى يُؤَيِّدُهُ

مِن جانِبِ اللَهِ إِلهامٌ وَإيحاءُ

Poetry of the highest harmony, aided

By divine inspiration and suggestion from God

مِن كُلِّ بَيتٍ كَآيِ اللَهِ تَسكُنُهُ

حَقيقَةٌ مِن خَيالِ الشِعرِ غَرّاءُ

Every verse like verses of God, inhabited

By a truth from the imagination of ornate poetry

وَكُلِّ مَعنىً كَعيسى في مَحاسِنِهِ

جاءَت بِهِ مِن بَناتِ الشِعرِ عَذراءُ

And every meaning like Jesus in his beauties

Brought by the virgins of poetry, an immaculate one

أَو قِصَّةٍ كَكِتابِ الدَهرِ جامِعَةٍ

كِلاهُما فيهِ إِضحاكٌ وَإِبكاءُ

Or a story encompassing like the book of time

Both of them containing laughter and weeping

مَهما تُمَثَّل تُرَ الدُنيا مُمَثَّلَةً

أَو تُتلَ فَهيَ مِنَ الإِنجيلِ أَجزاءُ

However much the world is personified you see

The world personified or recited it is parts of the Bible

يا صاحِبَ العُصُرِ الخالي أَلا خَبَرٌ

عَن عالَمِ المَوتِ يَرويهِ الأَلِبّاءُ

O owner of the empty era! Is there no news

Of the world of death narrated by the erudite?

أَمّا الحَياةُ فَأَمرٌ قَد وَصَفتَ لَنا

فَهَل لِما بَعدُ تَمثيلٌ وَإِدناءُ

As for life, it is something you have described for us

Is there after it personification and approximation?

بِمَن أَماتَكَ قُل لي كَيفَ جُمجُمَةٌ

غَبراءُ في ظُلُماتِ الأَرضِ جَوفاءُ

By the one who made you die, tell me how a skull

Grey in the darkness of the earth, hollow

كانَت سَماءَ بَيانٍ غَيرَ مُقلِعَةٍ

شُؤبوبُها عَسَلٌ صافٍ وَصَهباءُ

Used to be the sky of incessant eloquence

Its drizzle honey pure and sparkling

فَأَصبَحَت كَأَصيصٍ غَيرَ مُفتَقَدٍ

جَفَتهُ رَيحانَةٌ لِلشِعرِ فَيحاءُ

And it became like an abandoned pot

Whose basil the poetry long ago withered

وَكَيفَ باتَ لِسانٌ لَم يَدَع غَرَضاً

وَلَم تَفُتهُ مِنَ الباغينَ عَوراءُ

And how a tongue that left no purpose unpursued

And no weaknesses of the eloquent escaped it

عَفا فَأَمسى زُنابى عَقرَبٍ بَلِيَت

وَسُمُّها في عُروقِ الظُلمِ مَشّاءُ

It excelled but it became in the evening the stinger of a scorpion

Whose poison courses in the veins of darkness

وَما الَّذي صَنَعَت أَيدي البِلى بِيَدٍ

لَها إِلى الغَيبِ بِالأَقلامِ إيماءُ

And what has the work of decay done to a hand

That used to gesture to the unknown with pens

في كُلِّ أُنمُلَةٍ مِنها إِذا اِنبَجَسَت

بَرقٌ وَرَعدٌ وَأَرواحٌ وَأَنواءُ

In each of its fingers when outstretched

There was lightning, thunder, spirits, and gusts

أَمسَت مِنَ الدودِ مِثلَ الدودِ في جَدَثٍ

قُفّازُها فيهِ حَصباءٌ وَبَوغاءُ

It has become, by the worms, like the worms in a burial place

Its glove therein pebbles and crawling insects

وَأَينَ تَحتَ الثَرى قَلبٌ جَوانِبُهُ

كَأَنَّهُنَّ لِوادي الحَقِّ أَرجاءُ

And where, under the earth, is the heart whose sides

Used to be like the valleys of truth spacious

تُصغي إِلى دَقِّهِ أُذنُ البَيانِ كَما

إِلى النَواقيسِ لِلرُهبانِ إِصغاءُ

The ear of eloquence would listen to its beating

As the monks listen devoutly to church bells

لَئِن تَمَشّى البِلى تَحتَ التُرابِ بِهِ

لا يُؤكَلُ اللَيثُ إِلّا وَهوَ أَشلاءُ

If decay walks beneath the soil with it

The lion is not consumed except torn to shreds

وَالناسُ صِنفانِ مَوتى في حَياتِهُمُ

وَآخَرونَ بِبَطنِ الأَرضِ أَحياءُ

And people are of two sorts: dead in their lives

While others in the bellies of earth are alive

تَأبى المَواهِبُ فَالأَحياءُ بَينَهُمُ

لا يَستَوونَ وَلا الأَمواتُ أَكفاءُ

Endowments refuse so the living amongst them

Are not equal nor are the dead peers

يا واصِفَ الدَمِ يَجري هَهُنا وَهُنا

قُمِ اُنظُرِ الدَمَ فَهوَ اليَومَ دَأماءُ

O describer of the blood flowing here and there

Arise, look at the blood for today it is corpses

لاموكَ في جَعلِكَ الإِنسانَ ذِئبَ دَمٍ

وَاليَومَ تَبدو لَهُم مِن ذاكَ أَشياءُ

You blamed humankind for making man a wolf of blood

And today there appear to them from that things

وَقيلَ أَكثَرَ ذِكرَ القَتلِ ثُمَّ أَتَوا

ما لَم تَسَعهُ خَيالاتٌ وَأَنباءُ

And it was said most mentioning killing then they came

To what imaginations and news did not comprehend

كانوا الذِئابَ وَكانَ الجَهلُ داءَهُمو

وَاليَومَ عِلمُهُمُ الراقي هُوَ الداءُ

They were wolves and ignorance was their disease

And today their knowledge advancing is the disease

لُؤمُ الحَياةِ مَشى في الناسِ قاطِبَةً

كَما مَشى آدَمٌ فيهِم وَحَوّاءُ

The evil of life has pervaded all people

As Adam and Eve pervaded them

قُم أَيِّدِ الحَقَّ في الدُنيا أَلَيسَ لَهُ

كَتيبَةٌ مِنكَ تَحتَ الأَرضِ خَرساءُ

Arise, support truth in the world - is there not for it

A legion beneath the earth silent?

وَأَينَ صَوتٌ تَميدُ الراسِياتُ لَهُ

كَما تَمايَدَ يَومَ النارِ سَيناءُ

And where is a voice with which mountains sway

As Sinai swayed the day of the fire

وَأَينَ ماضِيَةٌ في الظُلمِ قاضِيَةٌ

وَأَينَ نافِذَةٌ في البَغيِ نَجلاءُ

And where is one judging in the darkness, judging

And where is one gleaming against tyranny?

أَيَترُكُ الأَرضَ جانوها وَلَيسَ بِها

صَحيفَةٌ مِنكَ في الجانِبَينِ سَوداءُ

Will you leave the earth wronged, and in it no

Black page from you on both sides as refuge?

تَأوي إِلَيها الأَيامى فَهيَ تَعزِيَةٌ

وَيَستَريحُ اليَتامى فَهيَ تَأساءُ

To which orphans resort, and it gives comfort

And in which the bereft find solace