الأَربَعونَ لَوَ اِنَّها تَتَكَلَّمُ

لَرَوَت لَنا قِصَصَ العَظائِمِ عَنكُمُ

Forty, if only it could speak

If these forty years could speak,

It would tell us tales of your greatness

They would tell us tales of your great deeds.

وَلَحَدَّثَتنا كَيفَ عَن أَعشاشِكُم

طِرتُمُ بِأَجنِحَةِ المُنى إِذ طُرتُمُ

And tell how you took off from your nests

They would recount how, from your nests,

On the wings of desire when you left

You took flight on wings of hope when you soared.

يَومُ الفِراقِ كَظَمتُمُ آلامُكُم

وَأَخَفُّ مِن أَلَمِ الفِراقِ جَهَنَّمُ

On the day of parting you suppressed your pain

On the day of parting, you stifled your pain,

And hell's pain is lighter than parting's pain

Though Hell itself is lighter than the agony of separation.

وَبَكى الأَحِبَّةُ حَولَكُم وَجُفُنُكُم

تَعصي البُكا حُزنُ الجَبابِرِ أَبكَمُ

The loved ones cried around you while your eyelids

Loved ones wept around you, yet your eyelids

Disobeyed crying, the grief of giants made them silent

Refused to weep; the grief of giants is silent.

أَيدٍ تُوَدِّعُ مَوطِناً وَعَشيرَةً

وَمَطامِحٌ خَلفَ البِحارِ تُسَلِّمُ

Hands bidding farewell to a homeland and clan

Hands waving farewell to homeland and kin,

And ambitions beyond the seas they handed over

While ambitions across the seas greeted you.

ضاقَت عَلى أَحلامِهِم تِلكَ القُرى

فَاِختَرتُمُ الدُنيا الوِساعَ لِتَحلَموا

Those villages became too narrow for their dreams

Those villages grew too narrow for your dreams,

So you chose the vast world to dream in

So you chose the wide world in which to dream.

وَغَزَوتُمُ الآفاقَ لا زادَ لَكُم

إِلّا الصِبا المُتَوَثِّبُ المُتَضَرِّمُ

And you invaded horizons with no provision for you

You conquered the horizons with no provision

Except determination that burns and leaps

Save for a leaping, burning youthfulness.

كَاللَيثِ لَيسَ لَهُ سِلاحٌ في السُرى

إِلّا مَخالِبُهُ الَّتي لا تُثلَمُ

Like a lion that has no weapon in dens

Like the lion, armed with nothing in the night

Except its claws that do not break

But claws that never dull.

تَتَخَيَّلونَ البَحرَ شُقَّ لِتَعبُروا

وَاِنداحَ بَينَ الشاطِأَينِ لِتَسلَموا

You imagined the sea split for you to cross

You imagined the sea split open for your crossing,

And receded between the two coasts for you to arrive safely

And widened between the shores for your safety.

وَالدُرُّ مَخبوءً لَكُم في قاعِهِ

كَي تُخرِجوهُ وَتَغنَموا ما شِئتُمُ

And pearls lay hidden for you on its bed

Believing pearls were hidden for you in its depths,

So you could take them out and gain whatever you wished

Waiting for you to harvest and seize what you willed.

وَالمَوجُ إِذ يَطغى وَيَهدُرُ حَولَكُم

جَوقاً لِطَردِ هُمومِكُم يَتَرَنَّمُ

And when the waves rose high and roared around you

And the waves, when they raged and roared around you,

It sang to dispel your worries

Seemed a choir singing to banish your cares.

وَإِذا النُجومُ تَأَلَّقَت تَحتَ الدُجى

خِلتُم لِأَجلِكُمُ تُضيءُ الأَنجُمُ

And when the stars shone in the darkness

And when the stars sparkled in the darkness,

The stars lit for you alone

You believed they shone solely for your sake.

وَحَسِبتُمُ شُمَّ الجِبالِ سَلالِماً

نُصِبَت لَكُم كَي تَصعَدوا فَصَعِدتُمُ

And you reckoned the mountains as ladders

You deemed the towering mountains mere ladders

Erected for you to climb up so you climbed

Erected for your ascent, and so you climbed.

وَالشَمسُ مَنجَمُ عَسجَدٍ مُتَكَشِّفٍ

لِذَوي الطُموحِ وَأَنتُمُ أَنتُم أَنتُم هُمُ

And the sun is a bare celestial house

The sun seemed a revealed mine of gold

For the ambitious, and you, you, you are they

For the ambitious—and you, you are truly they.

وَلَكَم تَلَثَّمَتِ الحَقائِقُ بِالرُأى

كَالأَرضِ يَغشاها السَرابُ الموهَمُ

And how realities were clad in opinions

How often realities were veiled by visions,

Like the mirage covers the land and deceives

Like earth cloaked in a deceptive mirage,

لِتَطِلَّ مِن أَرواحِنا أَشواقُها

فَنَطوفُ حَولَ خُدورِها وَنَحَوِّمُ

So the longings in our souls could emerge

That the longings of our souls might peer forth,

And we could wander around their homes and protect them

And we circle and hover around their veils.

لَم تَقنَعوا كَالخامِلينَ بِأَنَّكُم

لَكُمُ شَرابٌ في الحَياةِ وَمَطعَمُ

You did not settle like the inert whose

You were not content, like the idle, to simply have

Life is but a drink and a meal

Food and drink to sustain your lives.

لَو أَن تَكونَ حَياتُكُم كَحَياتِهِم

عَبَثاً يَموتُ بِهِ الوَقارُ وَيُعدَمُ

If your life were like theirs

Had your lives been like theirs,

Dignity would die fruitlessly and be destroyed

It would be a futility where dignity dies and is lost.

وَتَأَفُّفاً في اللَيلِ وَهوَ مُنَوِّرٌ

وَتَبَرُّماً في الصُبحِ وَهوَ تَبَسُّمُ

Yawning at night though lit up

Grumbling in the night while it is bright,

Grumbling in the morning though smiling

And complaining in the morning while it smiles.

لَو أَن يَكونَ تُراثُكُم كَتُراثِهِم

قَصرٌ عَفا أَو هَيكَلٌ مُتَرَدِّمُ

If your heritage were like theirs

Had your legacy been like theirs:

A neglected palace or crumbling temple

A ruined palace or a crumbling temple,

وَحَديثُ أَسلافٍ قَدِ اِلتَحَفوا الفَنا

فَهُمُ سَواءٌ في القِياسِ وَجُرهُمُ

And talk of ancestors who are gone

And tales of ancestors wrapped in non-existence,

So they equal in significance and their prestige

Indistinguishable from the ancient tribe of Jurhum.

مَن يَقتَرِب مِن أَمسِ يَبعُد عَن غَدٍ

وَيَعِش مَعَ المَوتى وَيُصبِحُ مِنهُمُ

Who draws near yesterday distances tomorrow

He who clings to yesterday drifts far from tomorrow,

And lives with the dead and becomes one of them

Living among the dead until he becomes one of them.

وَكَرِهتُمُ أَن تَنقَضي أَيّامُكُم

شَكوى لِمَن يَرثي وَمَن لا يَرحَمُ

You disliked your days passing

You refused to let your days pass

As a lament of one who grieves and does not pity

In complaints to those who pity or show no mercy,

أَو أَن يَبيتَ عَلى الحَضيضِ مُقامُكُم

وَالدودُ يَزحَفُ فَوقَهُ وَالأَرقَمُ

Or your place lying on the ground

Or that your station should remain in the depths,

With insects creeping over it and spiders

Where worms and vipers crawl above it.

فَنَفَرتُمُ كَالنَحلِ ما مِن زَهرَةٍ

فيها جَنى إِلّا وَفيها مَغنَمُ

So you sprang like bees, no flower

So you ventured forth like bees; no flower exists

With nectar in it but has profit in it

Without nectar for you to gather and prize.

في كُلِّ شَطٍّ مارِدٌ في كُلِّ طَودٍ

قَشعَمٌ في كُلِّ وادٍ ضَيغَمُ

In every shore a crocodile, in every dune

On every shore stands a giant, on every peak

A lion, in every valley a wolf

An eagle, and in every valley a lion.

المَجدُ مَطلَبُكُم وَأَنتُم سُهَّدٌ

وَالمَجدُ حِلمَكُمُ وَأَنتُم نُوَّمُ

Glory is your pursuit while you are yearning

Glory is your quest while you are awake,

And glory is your dream while you are sleeping

And glory is your dream while you sleep.

لا شَيءَ صَعبٌ عِندَكُم حَتّى الرَدى

الصَعبُ عِندَ نُفوسِكُم أَن تَحجِموا

Nothing is difficult for you, even demise

Nothing is too hard for you, not even death;

Difficult for your souls is to hesitate

To your souls, the only hardship is to hold back.

يا بِضعَةً مِن أُمَّةٍ هِيَ أُمَّةٌ

في ذاتِها وَلَها طَرازٌ مُعلَمُ

Oh few from a nation, it is a nation

O fragment of a nation that is, in itself,

In itself with a known form

An entire nation with a distinct mark.

فيكُم جَميعُ صِفاتِها وَخِلالِها

وَالرَوضُ يَحويهِ عُطوراً قَمقَمُ

In you are all its qualities and traits

You possess all its traits and virtues;

As the garden contains fragrant, ripe fruits

As a garden's essence is held within a vial of perfume.

إِنَّ الأُلى عابوا الجِهادَ عَلَيكُمُ

عَلَكوا مَدارِكُهُم وَلَم يَستَطعِموا

The misguided criticized jihad against you

Those who criticized your struggle

Chewed their fingers and did not perceive

Chewed on their own perceptions but tasted nothing.

طَلَبوا السَلامَةَ في القُعودِ فَفاتَهُم

دَركُ الثَراءِ وَبَعدَ ذا لَم يَسلَموا

Sought safety in sitting so it escaped them

They sought safety in inaction, and so missed

The gain of wealth, yet even then they were not safe

The attainment of wealth, nor did they remain safe.

هَأُلاءُ دودُ القَزِّ أَحسَنُ مِنهُمُ

وَأَجَلُّ في نَظَرِ الحَياةِ وَأَفهَمُ

They are worms of rottenness, better than them

Even silkworms are better than they,

And higher in life's view and wiser

More noble in the eyes of Life, and wiser.

قالوا كُهولٌ قَد تَصَرَّمَ عَصرُهُم

لَيتَ الشَبابَ مِنَ الكُهولِ تَعَلَّموا

They said they are elders whose time has aged

They said: "Old men whose time has passed."

If only the youth learned from the elders

Would that the youth had learned from these elders!

إِن لَم تَشيدوا كَالأَوائِلِ تَدمُراً

أَو بَعلَبَكَّ فَإِنَّكُم لَم تُهدَموا

If you do not build like the ancients, you destroy

If you did not build a Palmyra like the ancients,

Or Baalbek, for you have not demolished

Or a Baalbek, neither were you destroyed.

وَلَكَم غَدٌ وَجَمالُهُ وَبَهائُهُ

وَلَكَم مِنَ الأَمسِ النَفيسِ القَيِّمُ

And how much is the tomorrow with its beauty and brilliance

Yours is tomorrow, with its beauty and splendor,

And how precious the recent glorious past

And yours is the precious worth of yesterday.

حَدَّثتُ نَفسي وَالقِطارُ يَخِبُّ بي

عَجلانَ يَختَرِقُ الدُجى وَيُدَمدِمُ

I talked to myself as the train sped taking me

I conversed with my soul as the train raced me along,

Wheels cutting through darkness and speeding

Rushing to pierce the darkness, rumbling loud.

فَسَأَلتُها مُستَفهِماً وَلَرُبَّما

سَأَلَ العَليمُ سِواهُ عَمّا يَعلَمُ

So I asked it wondering, and maybe

I asked my soul in inquiry—for perhaps

The knowledgeable asks what he knows

The wise ask others about what they already know:

ما أَحسَنَ الأَيّامَ قالَت يَومُكُم

وَالناسَ فَاِبتَدَرَت وَقالَت أَنتُمُ

What is best of days, it said yours

"What is the best of days?" It replied, "Your day."

And people, it paused and said you

"And the people?" It hastened to say, "You."

وَالدورَ قالَت دورَكُم وَالمالَ

قالَت إِنَّ أَحسَنَهُ الَّذي أَنفَقتُمُ

And homes, it said yours, and money

"And the homes?" It said, "Yours." "And the wealth?"

It said the best of it is what you spent

It answered, "The best of it is what you have spent."

وَالحُسنَ قالَت كُلُّ ما أَحبَبتُمُ

وَالأَرضَ قالَت أَينَما اِستَوطَنتُمُ

And beauty, it said all you loved

"And beauty?" It said, "All that you have loved."

And earth, it said wherever you settled

"And the earth?" It said, "Wherever you have settled."

ما كانَ أَكمَلَ يَومُكُم وَأَتَمَّهُ

لَو لَم يَكُن في مَهدِ عيسى مَأتَمُ

It was not complete, your day, perfected

How perfect and complete your day would be,

Unless there was mourning at Jesus' cradle

Were there not, in the Cradle of Jesus, a funeral.

وَكَذا الحَياةُ قَديمُها وَحَديثُها

ذِكرى نُسَرُّ بِها وَذِكرى تُؤلِمُ

And so life, its past and its present

Such is life, in its ancient times and new:

Memories we delight in and memories that pain

A memory that brings joy, and a memory that pains.