لاهُمَّ إِنَّ الغَربَ أَصبَحَ شُعلَةً

مِن هَولِها أُمُّ الصَواعِقِ تَفرَقُ

Alas! The West has become a raging flame,

At the terror of which the mother of lightning bolts scatters.

العِلمُ يُذكي نارَها وَتُثيرُها

مَدَنِيَّةٌ خَرقاءُ لا تَتَرَفَّقُ

Science fans its fire and inflames it;

A ragged civilization shows no mercy.

وَلَقَد حَسِبتُ العِلمَ فينا نِعمَةً

تَأسو الضَعيفَ وَرَحمَةً تَتَدَفَّقُ

I had thought science for us a blessing -

It would help the weak and be a flowing mercy.

فَإِذا بِنِعمَتِهِ بَلاءٌ مُرهِقٌ

وَإِذا بِرَحمَتِهِ قَضاءٌ مُطبِقُ

But lo! its blessing has become an ordeal,

And lo! its mercy has become a crushing fate.

عَجِزَ الرُماةُ عَنِ الرُماةِ فَأَرسَلوا

كِسَفاً يَموجُ بِها دُخانٌ يَخنُقُ

The archers, baffled by the archers, unleashed

A fog through which suffocating smoke undulates.

تَتَعَوَّذُ الآفاقُ مِنهُ وَتَنثَني

عَنهُ الرِياحُ وَيَتَّقيهِ الفَيلَقُ

The horizons recoil from it, the winds avoid it,

And the cavalry flees from it in terror.

وَتَنابَلوا بِالكيمِياءِ فَأَسرَفوا

وَتَساجَلوا بِالكَهرُباءِ فَأَغرَقوا

They have gone too far with chemistry, so they exceeded;

They have competed with electricity, so they drowned.

وَتَنازَلوا في الجَوِّ حينَ بَدا لَهُم

أَنَّ البَسيطَةَ عَن مَداهُم أَضيَقُ

They descended in the sky when it seemed to them

That the earth's expanse was too confining.

نَفِسوا عَلى الحيتانِ واسِعَ مُلكِها

فَتَفَنَّنوا في سَلبِهِ وَتَأَنَّفوا

They breathed freely in the spacious realm of the whales,

And delighted in robbing it and were insolent.

مَلَكوا مَسابِحَها عَلَيها بَعدَ ما

غَلَبوا النُسورَ عَلى الجِواءِ وَحَلَّقوا

After overpowering the eagles in the air, they ruled

The whales' own element against them.

إِن كانَ عَهدُ العِلمِ هَذا شَأنُهُ

فينا فَعَهدُ الجاهِلِيَّةِ أَرفَقُ

If this is the character of the age of science for us,

Then the age of ignorance would be more gentle.