أَباعِثَةَ المَطايا مِن حَديدٍ

كَأَسرابِ القَطا لِلعالَمينا

I unleash swift steeds forged of iron

O you who dispatch riding-mounts of iron,

Like flocks of eagles over the lands

Like flocks of sandgrouse sent out to the worlds.

رَكائِبٌ في فِجاجِ الأَرضِ تَسري

تُقِلُّ الذاهِبينَ الآيِبينا

Ships that cruise the earth's valleys

Caravans traveling through the earth's deep passes,

Bearing those who come and those who go

Carrying those who depart and those who return.

تَقُصُّ عَلى المَدائِنِ وَالقَرايا

حِكايَةَ قَومِكِ المُستَنبِطينا

Telling tales of your ingenious people

Recounting to the cities and the villages

To cities and villages far and wide

The tale of your people, the innovators.

وَكَيفَ العَقلُ يُخلَقُ مِن زَرِيِّ

مَهينٍ لا زَرِيَّ وَلا مُهينا

Of how the mind was created

And how the intellect creates from paltry matter,

From base clay, neither base nor sublime

Something once despised, now neither small nor mean.

وَيَنفُخُ في الجَمادِ قِوىً وَحِسّاً

فَيَركُضُ تارَةً وَيَطيرُ حينا

Instilling in lifeless matter powers and senses

Breathing into inanimate rock power and sensation,

Now galloping, now taking flight

So that it races at times, and at times takes flight.

وَيَهتِفُ بَِلقَصائِدِ وَالأَغاني

وَقَد ذَهَبَ الرَدى بِالمُنشِدينا

Shouting odes and melodies

It chants aloud with poems and with songs,

While singers have passed away

Even after death has taken the singers away.

لَقَد حَسَدَتكِ أُمُّ الفَنِّ روما

كَما حَسَدَتكِ ضَرَّتُها أَثِنا

Rome, mother of art, envied you

Rome, the mother of art, has truly envied you,

As did her rival, Athens

Just as her rival, Athens, has envied you.

فَمَجدُكِ فَوقَ مَجدِهِما عَلاءً

وَحُسنُكِ فَوقَ حُسنِهِما فُتونا

Your glory towered above theirs

For your glory towers above their glory in height,

Your beauty surpassed their charms

And your beauty surpasses theirs in enchantment.

نَزَلنا في حِماكِ فَقَرِّبينا

وَبارَكنا ثَراكَ فَبارِكينا

We came under your protection, so favor us

We have alighted in your sanctuary, so draw us near,

We blessed your soil, so bless us

And we have blessed your soil, so bless us now.

فَما لِطَماعَةٍ بِنُضارِ فوردٍ

وَفَضَّتِهِ إِلَيكِ اليَومَ جينا

Why would one with blossoming roses

It is not out of greed for Ford's gold,

Offer them to you today?

Nor for his silver, that we came to you today.

فَما هُوَ في سَماحَتهِ كَمَعنٍ

وَلَيسَت نوقُهُ لِلذابِحينا

It is not like a camel offered for slaughter

For he is not, in his generosity, like Ma'n,

Nor steeds presented to executioners

Nor are his camels destined for the butcher.

وَلَكِن فيكِ إِخوانٌ هَوَينا

لِأَجلِهِمِ جَميعَ الساكِنينا

But you have brothers who adore us

But within you are brothers whom we have loved,

For their sake, all who dwell here

And for their sake, we love all who dwell here.

أَحِبّونا كَأَنَّهُمُ ذَوُنا

وَطَنسونا بِلُطفِهِمِ ذَوينا

They loved us as their own

They loved us as though they were our own kin,

And made us forget our people with their kindness

And through their kindness, made us forget our kin.

وَعاهَدناهُمُ إِذ عاهَدونا

فَلَم نَنكُث وَلا نَكَثوا يَمينا

We pledged to them as they pledged to us

We pledged our word to them when they pledged to us,

Neither betrayed, nor were oaths broken

And neither we nor they have broken a solemn oath.

إِذا غَضِبوا عَلى الدُنيا غَضِبنا

وَإِن يَرضوا عَلى الدُنيا رَضينا

If they were angry with the world, so were we

If they raged against the world, we raged as well,

If they were pleased with the world, so were we

And if they were pleased with the world, we were pleased.

دَعاهُم لِلعُلى وَالخَيرِ داعٍ

مِنَ الوادي فَلَبّوا أَجمَعينا

A caller summoned them to excellence and virtue

A caller summoned them to glory and to good,

From the valley, so they unanimously responded

From the Valley, and they answered, all as one.

أَيَخذِلُ جارَةَ الوادي بَنوها

مَعاذَ اللَهِ هَذا لَن يَكونا

Would the people of the valley abandon their neighbor?

Would her sons ever forsake the Neighbor of the Valley?

God forbid this should ever be!

God forbid! Such a thing shall never be.

فَما لاقَيتُ زَحلِيّاً جَباناً

وَلا لاقَيتُ زَحلِيّاً ضَنينا

Never did I meet a cowardly Saturnian

For I have never met a coward from Zahle,

Nor a miserly Saturnian

Nor have I met a miser from Zahle.

تَأَمَّل كَيفَ أَدحى تَلُّ شيحا

يُحاكي في الجَلالَةِ طورَسينا

Consider how the peak of Sheeha rises

Behold how the Hill of Shiha has come to be,

Rivaling Taurus in majesty

Rivalling Mount Sinai in its majesty.

فَعَن هَذا تَحَدَّرَتِ الوَصايا

وَفي هَذا يَجَدنا المُحسِنينا

From it came commandments

From that one, the Commandments were sent down,

And in it we find the charitable

While in this one, we have found the benefactors.

عَلى جَنَباتِهِ وَعَلى ذَراهُ

جَمالٌ يُبهِرُ المُتَأَمِّلينا

On its slopes and terraces

Upon its slopes and upon its soaring peaks

Beauty dazzles the beholder

Is a beauty that dazzles those who contemplate.

فَلَم أَرَ مِثلَهُ لِلخَيرِ دُنيا

وَلَم أَرَ مِثلَهُ فَتحاً مُبينا

Never did I see its equal in kindness

I have never seen a world like it for goodness,

Nor its equal in triumphant conquest

Nor have I seen like it such a manifest triumph.

فَيا أَشبالَ لُبنانَ المُفَدّى

وَيا إِخوانِنا وَبَني أَبينا

O lions of liberated Lebanon

O cubs of our ransomed Lebanon,

Our brothers and sons of our father

O our brothers and sons of our forefather.

تَرَنَّحَ عَصرُكُم فَخراً وَهَشَّت

لِصُنعِكُم عِظامُ المائِتينا

Your era boasted with pride and the bones

Your era has swayed with pride, and the bones

Of the dead were humbled by your making

Of the dead have rejoiced at your handiwork.

تَبارى الناسُ في طَلَبِ المَعالي

فَكُنتُم في المَجالِ السابِقينا

People compete to seek high ambitions

People vied with one another in seeking heights,

Yet you were the foremost contenders

But in this field, you were the forerunners.

بَنى الأَهرامَ فِرعَونٌ فَدامَت

لِتُخبِرَ كَيفَ كانَ الظالِمونا

Pharaohs built pyramids that still stand

Pharaoh built the Pyramids, and they endured

To tell how oppressors acted

To tell the tidings of how the oppressors lived;

وَكَم أَشقى الجُموعَ الفَردُ مِنهُم

وَكَم طَمَسَ الأُلوفَ لِكَي يَبينا

And how the individual made multitudes miserable

How much misery a single man brought upon the crowds,

Blotting out thousands to prove himself

And how many thousands he erased to make his mark.

وَشُدتُم مَعهَداً في تَلِّ شيحا

سَيَبقى مَلجَأً لِلبائِسينا

While you built an academy on Mount Sheeha

But you built a sanctuary upon Tell Shiha,

To remain a refuge for the wretched

That shall remain a refuge for the wretched.

يُطِلُّ الفَجرُ مُبتَسِماً عَلَيهِ

وَيَرجِعُ مُطمَإِنّاً مُستَكينا

Dawn smiles down upon it

The dawn looks down upon it with a smile,

And returns reassured and serene

And returns feeling reassured and tranquil.

وَيَمضي يَملَءُ الوادي ثَناءً

عَلَيكُم وَالأَباطِحَ وَالحُزونا

Passing, filling the valley with praise

It moves on, filling the valley with praise

For you, the desolate and the sorrowful

For you, across the flatlands and the rugged hills.

أَرى غَيثَينِ يَستَبِقانِ جوداً

هُما مَطَرُ السَما وَالغائِثونا

I see two rains racing in generosity

I see two rains racing in generosity:

The rain from the sky and you, the benefactors

The rain of the heavens, and the succor you bring.

لَئِن حَجَبَ الغَمامُ الشَمسَ عَنّا

فَلَم يَطمِس ضِياءَ اللَهِ فينا

If clouds conceal the sun from us

Though the clouds may veil the sun from us,

They cannot dim God's light within us

They have not blotted out God's light within us;

وَلَم يَستِر سَبيلَ الخَيرِ عَنكُم

وَلَم يَقبِض أَكُفّ الباذِلينا

Or bar the path of goodness from you

They did not hide the path of kindness from you,

Or close the hands of those who give

Nor did they close the hands of those who give.

وَجَدتُ المَرءَ حُبَّ الخَيرِ فيهِ

فَإِن يَفقُدُهُ صارَ المَرءُ طينا

I found love of goodness within a person

I found that a man is defined by the love of good;

If it's lost, he becomes mere clay

Should he lose that, the man turns into clay.

تَكَمَّشَ في الحُقولِ الشَوكُ بُخلاً

فَذُلَّ فَعاشَ مُكتَإِباً حَزينا

Thorns shriveled in the fields from stinginess

The thorns in the fields curled up from miserliness,

Living dejected and morose

So they were abased, living in gloom and sorrow.

وَأَسنى الوَردُ إِذ أَعطى شَذاهُ

مَكانَتَهُ فَكُن في الواهِبينا

While roses thrived by giving their fragrance

But the rose rose high when it gave its scent,

Take your place among the generous!

Elevating its station, so be among the givers.

سَأَلتُ الشِعرَ أَن يَثني عَلَيكُم

فَقالَت لِيَ القَوافي قَد عَيِنا

I asked poetry to praise you, but rhyme

I asked Poetry to sing your praises,

Told me it had already chosen you

But the rhymes replied to me, "We are exhausted."

سَيَجزيهُمُ عَنِ البُؤَساءِ رَبٌّ

يُكافِئُ بِالجَميلِ المُحسِنينا

A Lord will reward them for the destitute

The Lord shall reward them on behalf of the poor,

Requiting the charitable for their goodness

He who repays the doers of good with grace.