قف بالشام مسائلا آثارها

مرحى لمن أمّ الشام و زارها

Stand in Sham, questioning its ruins,

Joy to the one who heads for Sham and visits it!

أهوى أزهارها . أحنّ لعهدها

أشتاق بلبلها ، أحبّ هزارها

I love its flowers, I yearn for its era,

I long for its nightingales, I love its songbirds.

قضّيت أيّامي القصار بظلّها

جادت مدامع مقلتيّ قصارها

I spent my short days in its shade,

And the tears of my eyes poured forth to their utmost.

أفدي مهفهفة القوام أسيرة

تشكو القيود فمن يفكّ إسارها

I offer myself as ransom for a slender-waisted captive,

Complaining of chains—so who will break her captivity?

غلّوا الأسود الصيد من أبطالها

في الغوطتين و حجّبوا أقمارها

They shackled the proud lions among her heroes

In the two Ghoutas, and they veiled her moons.

و كسوا مناكبها فلا أنجادها

تركوا لقاطنها و لا أغوارها

They covered her shoulders; so neither her highlands

Did they leave for her inhabitants, nor her lowlands.

هذي الشام فحيّ ليث عرينها

يوم النزال لبابها مختارها

This is Sham, so greet the lion of her den,

Her chosen essence and core on the day of battle.

إن كان قد هجر الشام فإنّه

أبكى الشام و هزّها و أثارها

If he has indeed departed from Sham, then he

Has made Sham weep, shaken it, and roused it.

حزنت قبور الفاتحين و أطلقت

حمر الدموع و أرسلت مدرارها

The graves of the conquerors grieved and released

Red tears, letting them flow in abundance.

و بكت غياض الغوطتين أما ترى

أنّ المدامع بلّلت أزهارها

And the thickets of the two Ghoutas wept, do you not see

That the tears have moistened their flowers?

يا ابن الصناديد الألى قد عفّروا

هام الملوك و نكّسوا جبّارها

O son of the valiant chiefs who dragged in the dust

The heads of kings and humbled their tyrants.

ألموقدي نار الضيافة أرسلت

مثل الجبال الراسيات شرارها

The kindlers of the fire of hospitality, which sent

Its sparks like towering, immovable mountains.

من كلّ وضّاح الجبين مغامر

يغشى المعامع مستثيرا نارها

From every bold adventurer with a radiant brow,

Who plunges into the fray, stirring its fire.

كأس المنيّة في فرند حسامه

فإذا التقت حلق البطان أدارها

The cup of death is in the gleam of his blade,

And when the girth-rings meet in dire combat, he passes it around.

قد أرقلت بك في الخضمّ مطيّة

هوجاء ما نكث الخضمّ مغارها

A mount has hastened with you into the vast ocean,

A fierce one, whose firm ropes the ocean could not unravel.

ظمأى تسير على الخضمّ مجرجرا

سير الذلول و لا تبلّ أوارها

Thirsty, she walks upon the roaring sea

With the pace of a docile beast, yet she does not quench her burning thirst.

فإذا بلغت الغرب و هو ممالك

بالسيف تمنع مجدها و ذمارها

And when you reach the West, which is kingdoms

That defend their glory and honor with the sword,

رفعت على حدّ السيوف عروشها

و بنت بأشلاء الضعاف ديارها

Having raised their thrones upon the edges of swords,

And built their lands with the scattered remains of the weak,

قل إن جلست مخاطبا طاغوتها

و محاورا في بغيه جزّارها

Say, if you sit addressing their tyrant,

And debating with their butcher in his oppression:

ما للشام نسيتم ميثاقها

و خفرتم بعد العهود جوارها

"What of Sham? You forgot her covenant,

And betrayed her protection after your pledges.

قرّبتم للطيّبات عبيدها

و حرمتم حتّى الكرى أحرارها

You brought her slaves closer to the good things,

And deprived her free men of even slumber.

عزّ العزاء فكفكفوا عبراتها

و خلا النديّ فأطلقوا أطيارها

Consolation is scarce, so wipe away her tears,

And the assembly is empty, so release her birds."

لا تكذب الأمم القويّة ، إنّها

باسم الحضارة ثقّفت خطّارها

The powerful nations do not lie; indeed, they,

In the name of civilization, have straightened their spears.

و لتهنأ الأمم القوية . إنّها

قد أدركت ممّن تخادع ثارها

And let the powerful nations rejoice; indeed, they

Have exacted their revenge from those they deceive.

قالت : لقد بلّغتكم أوطاركم

و هي التي بلغت بنا أوطارها

They said: "We have fulfilled your desires,"

When it was they who fulfilled their desires through us.

يا عصبة الصيد الغطاريف الألى

حفظوا الجدود و خلدوا آثارها

O band of proud, noble lords who

Preserved the ancestors and immortalized their legacy.

هذي سيوف الفاتحين من البلى

قذ صنتم أجفانها و شفارها

These are the swords of the conquerors; from decay

You have protected their scabbards and their edges.

جدّدتم عهد الحفاظ لأمّة

الله طهّر خيمها و نجارها

You renewed the pledge of preservation for a nation

Whose nature and roots God has purified.

ارجعتم صور العروبة غضّة

فكأنكم ارجعتم إعصارها

You restored the images of Arabism fresh and tender,

As if you had brought back its glorious epochs.

و بعثتم أمم الجزيرة بعدما

طويت و حلل فذكم أطوارها

And you resurrected the nations of the Peninsula after

They were folded away, and your peerless leader unraveled their stages.

أنطقتم الصّور الجماد فخبّرت

عن شأنها و رويتم أخبارها

You made the inanimate forms speak, so they told

Of their condition, and you narrated their tales.

و سللتم صمصامها من غمده

متألّقا و جلوتم دينارها

You drew her sharp sword from its sheath,

Gleaming, and you polished her golden dinar.

و رفعتم ركن القضية عاليا

بجهادكم و كشفتم أسرارها

You raised the pillar of the cause on high

With your struggle, and you unveiled its secrets.

مرحى لناشئة الشام و مرحبا

بالنشء إن عثرت أقال عثارها

Joy to the youth of Sham, and welcome

To the rising generation that, if she stumbles, lifts her from her fall.

ألناهضين ليمنعوا ميراثها

و يجدّدوا علياءها و فخارها

The ones rising up to defend her inheritance,

And to renew her eminence and her pride.

هذي الرّبوع سررتم غيّابها

بجهادكم و حرستم حضّارها

These lands—you brought joy to those absent from them

Through your struggle, and you guarded those present.

أسهرتم جفن العدوّ و رحتم

ندمان كلّ فضيلة سمّارها

You kept the enemy's eyelids awake, while you became

Cup companions to every virtue, its nightly conversers.

أرجعتم صور العروبة غضّة

فكأنّكم أرجعتم عصارها

You restored the images of Arabism fresh and tender,

As if you had brought back its glorious epochs.

و رفعتم ركن القضيّة عاليا

بجهادكم و كشفتم أسرارها

You raised the pillar of the cause on high

With your struggle, and you unveiled its secrets.

و أرى العدوّ دعاكم أغرارها

أفدي الذين دعاهم أغرارها

I see the enemy has called you its inexperienced youths,

May I be a ransom for those he called inexperienced!

لا تفنطوا فلقد غرستم جنّة

تجني أكفّكم إذا أثمارها

Do not despair, for you have planted a paradise;

Your hands shall surely reap its fruits.

و خذوا شعاركم القلى لعصابة

تخذت مولاة الغريب شعارها

And take as your motto the hatred of a faction

That took allegiance to the foreigner as its motto.

نسيت عروبتها و لم تعشق بها

مئناف جنّات الحمى معطارها

It forgot its Arabism and did not passionately love

The fragrant early blossoms of the homeland's gardens.

أغفت على أعذارها ، فتريّثوا

ألله ليس بقابل أعذارها

It slumbered upon its excuses, so wait patiently;

God is not one to accept its excuses.

حسب العروبة أنّكم لبّيتم

يوم النداء و كنتم أنصارها

It is enough for Arabism that you answered

On the day of the call, and you were its supporters.

بردى أدار عليكم صهباء

و جلت عرائسه لكم نوّارها

Barada has passed around to you a crimson wine,

And its brides have revealed to you their blossoms.

و اخجلتي للناكرين جميلها

و الثالمين مع العدوّ غررها

Oh, my shame for those who deny her grace,

And those who, alongside the enemy, dull her shining glory.

عقّوا البنين و ما سمعت بناقة

وطئت على مهد الصعيد حوارها

They mistreated the sons, and I have never heard of a she-camel

That trampled her newborn calf upon the cradle of the dust.