جَلَست وَقَد هَجَعَ الغافِلون

أُفَكِّرُ في أَمسِنا وَالغَدِ

I sat while the heedless ones slept

I sat while the heedless slumbered,

Thinking of our past and future

Pondering our past and our tomorrow,

وَكَيفَ اِستَبَدَّ بِنا الظالِمون

وَجاروا عَلى الشَيخ وَالأَمرَدِ

And how the oppressors prevailed over us

And how tyrants have oppressed us,

They were unjust to the old and the young

Committing injustice against the elder and the beardless youth.

فَخِلتُ اللَواعِجَ بَينَ الجُفونِ

وَأَنَّ جَهنَّمَ في مَرقَدي

So my eyelids remained sleepless

I fancied searing anguish dwelled between my eyelids,

Feeling hell was in my bed

And that Hell itself lay within my bed.

وَضاقَ الفُؤادُ بِما يَكتُمُ

فَأَرسَلَتِ العَينُ مِدرارَها

My heart felt squeezed by what it concealed

My heart grew heavy with what it concealed,

So my eyes let flow their tears

So my eyes poured forth their torrential flow.

ذَكَرتُ الحُروب وَوَيلاتِها

وَما صَنَعَ السَيف وَالمِدفَعُ

I remembered the wars and their afflictions

I recalled wars and their calamities,

What the sword and cannon had done

And what the sword and cannon have wrought,

وَكَيفَ تَجورُ عَلى ذاتِها

شُعوبٌ لَها الرُتبَةُ الأَرفَعُ

How nations ravage their own selves

And how nations turn against their very selves,

Though they held the highest rank

Peoples who claim the highest rank of civilization,

وَتَخضُبُ بَِلدَمِ راياتِها

وَكانَت تَذُمُّ الَّذي تَصنَعُ

And dyed their flags with blood

Staining their banners with crimson blood,

While once condemning what they now do

While condemning the very deeds they now commit.

فَباتَت بِما شيدَت تَهدُمُ

صُروحَ العُلوم وَأَسرارَها

So overnight what they built they destroyed

Thus, with what they built, they began to demolish

The citadels of knowledge and its secrets

The citadels of science and their secrets.

نِسَأٌ تَجودُ بِأَولادِها

عَلى المَوت وَالمَوتُ لا يَرحَمُ

Women sacrificing their children

Women sacrificing their own sons,

To death though death has no mercy

To death, though death grants no mercy.

وَجُندٌ تَجودُ بِأَكبادِها

عَلى الأَرض وَالأَرضُ لا تَعَلمُ

And soldiers sacrificing themselves

And soldiers offering up their very vitals,

To the land though it knows not

Upon the earth, though the earth remains unaware.

وَتَغدو الطُيورُ بِأَجسادِها

فَإِن عَطِشَت فَالشَرابُ الدَمُ

Birds awake feasting on corpses

Birds of prey descend upon their bodies,

For if thirsty, blood is their drink

And if they thirst, their drink is blood.

وَفي كُلِّ مَنزِلَةٍ مَأتَمُ

تَشُقُّ بِها الغَدُ أَزرارَها

And in every dwelling there is mourning

In every dwelling, a funeral is held,

The tomorrow rending apart its garments

Where the maiden tears her garments in grief.

لَقَد شَبِعَ الذِئب وَالأَجدَلُ

وَأَقفَرَتِ الدور وَالأَربُعُ

The wolf and the hyena are sated

The wolf and the falcon have had their fill,

Homes and lands lie barren

While homes and quarters lie desolate and bare.

فَكَم يَقتُلُ الجَحفَلَ الجَحفَلُ

وَيَفتُكُ بِالأَروَعِ الأَروَعُ

So one army destroys the other

How often does one army slaughter another,

And the finest kills the finest

And the brave warrior destroys his brave counterpart.

وَلَن يُرجِعَ القَتلُ مَن قُتِّلوا

وَلَن يَستَعيدَ الَّذي ضَيَّعوا

The dead will not return to life

Yet killing will never bring back the slain,

Nor the lost come back again

Nor recover that which they have lost.

فَبِئسَ الأُلى بِالوَغى عَلِموا

وَبِئسَ الأُلى أَجَّجوا نارَها

Evil is he who learned violence

Wretched are those who learned the ways of war,

And evil is he who fueled its fire

And wretched are those who kindled its flames.

أَمِن أَجلِ أَن يَسلَمَ الواحِدُ

رُطَلُّ الدِماء وَتَفنى الأُلوف

Is it so one man may live safely

Is it so that a single one may remain safe,

While blood flows in rivers and thousands perish

That blood is shed and thousands perish?

وَيَزرَعُ أَولادَهُ الوالِدُ

لِتَحصِدَهُم شَفَراتُ السُيوف

And fathers raise their sons

Must a father plant his own children,

Only for swords to reap them

Only for the blades of swords to harvest them?

أُمورٌ يَحارُ بِها الناقِدُ

وَتُدمي فُؤادَ اللَبيبِ الحَصيف

Matters that baffle the critic

These are matters that baffle the critic,

And sadden the heart of the wise

And make the heart of the wise and prudent bleed.

فَيا لَيتَ شِعري مَتى يَفهَمُ

مَعاني الحَياة وَأَسرارَها

Oh when will we understand

Oh, would that I knew when man will understand

The meanings and secrets of life

The meanings of life and its hidden secrets.

وَحَوَّلتُ طَرفي إِلى المَشرِقِ

فَلَم أَرَ غَيرَ جِبالِ الغُيوم

I turned my eyes to the east

I turned my gaze toward the East,

But saw only mountains of clouds

Yet saw nothing but mountains of clouds,

تَحولُ عَلى بَدرِهِ المُشرِقِ

كَما اِجتَمَعَت حَولَ نَفسي الغُموم

Veiling its shining moon

Obscuring its radiant full moon,

As clouds gathered around my soul, too

Just as sorrows have gathered around my soul.

فَأَسنَدتُ رَأسي إِلى مِرفَقي

وَقُلت وَقَد غَلَبَتني الهُموم

So I rested my head on my elbow

So I rested my head upon my arm,

And said, overwhelmed by worries

And spoke, while worries overwhelmed me:

بِرَبِّكِ أَيَّتُها الأَنجُمُ

مَتى تَضَعِ الحَربُ أَوزارَها

By your Lord o stars

"By your Lord, O stars above,

When will war lay down its burdens

When will War finally lay down its heavy burdens?"

كَما يُقتَلُ الطَيرُ في الجَنَّةِ

وَيَقتَنِصُ الظَبيُ في السَبسَبِ

As birds are killed in paradise

Just as the bird is slain within the garden,

And gazelles hunted in the meadows

And the gazelle is hunted in the barren wild,

كَذَلِكَ يُجنى عَلى أُمَّتي

بِلا سَبَب وَبِلا موجِبِ

So too my people are wronged

So too is my nation unjustly struck down,

With no cause or fault

Without reason and without cause.

فَحَتّامَ تُؤخَذُ بِالقُوَّةِ

وَيُقتَصُّ مِنها وَلَم تُذنِبِ

So Hittites are taken by force

How long shall she be seized by force,

And punished though innocent

And punished though she has committed no sin?

وَكَم تَستَكين وَتَستَسلِمُ

وَقَد بَلَغَ السَيلُ زُنّارَها

How much will we yield and surrender

How long will she submit and surrender,

When the flood reached its peak

When the rising flood has already reached her waist?

وَسيقَت إِلى النَطعِ سوقُ الغَنَم

مَغاوِرَها وَرِجالُ الأَدَب

And the sheep were driven to slaughter

She was driven to the slaughter like a flock of sheep—

Their caves and men of refinement

Her valiant heroes and her men of letters.

وَكُلُّ اِمرِئٍ لَم يَمُت بِالخَذَم

فَقَد قَتَلوهُ بِسَيفِ السَغَب

Whoever did not die fighting

And every man who did not perish by the blade

Was killed dishonorably by the sword

Has been slain by the sword of starvation.

فَما حَرَّكَ الضَيمُ فيها الشِمَم

وَلا رُؤيَةُ الدَمِ فيها الغَضَب

So wrongdoing stirred in them no anger

Yet injustice did not stir her dignity,

Nor did seeing blood stir wrath

Nor did the sight of blood ignite her wrath.

تَبَدَّلَتِ الناس وَالأَنجُمُ

وَلَمّا تُبَدِّلِ أَطوارَها

People and stars have changed

The people and the stars have changed,

Though their cycles remained the same

Yet she has not changed her passive ways.

أَرى اللَيثَ يَدفَعُ عَن غَيضَتِه

بِأَنيابِه وَبِأَظفارِهِ

I see the lion defending his fury

I see the lion defending his thicket

With fangs and claws

With his fangs and with his claws;

وَيَجتَمِعُ النَملُ في قَريَتِه

إِذا خَشِيَ الغَدرَ مِن جارِهِ

And ants gather in their nest

And the ants gather within their colony

Fearing betrayal from a neighbor

When fearing treachery from a neighbor;

وَيَخشى الهَزارُ عَلى وَكنَتِه

فَيَدفَعُ عَنها بِمِنقارِهِ

While the buzzard protects his nest

And the nightingale fears for his nest,

Pecking away threats with his beak

So he defends it with his beak.

فَلا الكاسِرات وَلا الضَيغَمُ

وَلا الشاةُ تَمدَحُ جَزّارَها

But neither the breakers nor the broken

Neither the birds of prey nor the lion,

Nor the sheep praises its butcher

Nor even the sheep sings praises to its butcher.

عَجِبتُ مِنَ الضاحِكِ اللاعِبِ

وَأَهلوهُ بَينَ القَنا وَالسُيوف

I wonder at those who laugh and play

I marveled at the one who laughs and plays,

While welcomed by spears and swords

While his kin are caught between spears and swords.

يَبيتونَ في وَجَلٍ ناصِبِ

فَإِن نَصَبوا أُلجِؤوا لِلكُهوف

Spending nights upright and anxious

They pass the night in exhausting dread,

Herded to caves if they rebel

Driven to seek refuge within the caves.

وَمِمَّن يَصفَقُّ لِلضارِبِ

وَأَحبابُهُ يَجرَعونَ الحُتوف

And those who applaud the oppressor

And at the one who applauds the oppressor,

While their loved ones drink sorrow

While his loved ones gulp down the cup of death.

مَتى يَذكُرُ الوَطَنَ النَومُ

كَما تَذكُرُ الطَيرُ أَوكارَها

When will the homeland stir the sleep

When will the sleeper remember the homeland,

As birds recall their nests

Just as the birds remember their nests?