لمّا تَعَرَّضَ نَجْمُك المنحوسُ

وترنَّحت بِعُرى الحِبالِ رؤوسُ

When your ill-omened star appeared

And the ropes' ends began to creak,

ناح الأّذانُ وأعولَ الناقوسُ

فالليل أكدرُ والنَّهارُ عَبوسُ

The prayer caller wailed and the bells tolled

So the night grew murky and the day sullen.

طَفِقَتْ تثورُ عواصفُ

وعواطفُ

The storms began to rage,

And emotions,

والموت حينا طائف

أو خاطفُ

While death hovered,

Sometimes swooping, sometimes snatching,

والمعْولُ الأَبديّ يُمْعِن في الثرى

لِيردَّهمْ في قلبِها المتحجِّرِ

And the eternal chisel kept burrowing

To return them to her stony heart.

يومٌ أطلَّ على العصور الخاليَهْ

ودعا أمرَّ على الورى أمثاليَهْ

A day dawned upon the empty ages

And summoned something amazing to be.

فأجاَبهُ يومٌ أجلْ أنا راويُهْ

لمحاكم التَّفتيش تلكَ الباغِيَهْ

Another day, more formidable, answered:

I will tell of those inquisitorial tribunals.

ولقد شهدتُ عجائبا

وغرائبا

Indeed I have seen wonders

And strangenesses,

لكنَّ فيكَ مصائبا

ونوائبا

But in you are tribulations

And afflictions

لم ألْقَ أشباهاً لها في جورِها

فاسأل سوايَ وكم بها مِنْ منكَرِ

The like of which I have never encountered in their tyranny.

Ask anyone else - how much is in them of abomination!

وإذا بيومٍ راسفٍ بقيودِهِ

فأجابَ والتاريخُ بعضُ شهودهِ

And there was a day, chained in its fetters,

And history, some of its witnesses, answered:

أُنظرْ إلى بيضِ الرَّقيقِ وسودِهِ

مَنْ شاءَ كانوا مُلكَهُ بنقودِهِ

Look at the bondmen, white and black,

Whoever desired, they were his with his money.

بشرٌ يُباعُ ويُشترى

فتحرَّرا

Men bought and sold

So they were freed,

ومشى الزَّمانُ القهقرى

فيما أرى

And time went backwards,

By what I see.

فسمعتُ منْ منعَ الرَّقيقَ وبَيْعهُ

نادى على الأَحرارِ يا مَنْ يشتري

I heard him who banned selling and buying bondsmen

Calling out to the freemen: O you who would buy!

وإذا بيومٍ حالكِ الجِلْبابِ

مُتَرنّحٍ من نَشْوةِ الأوصْابِ

And there was a day, shrouded in its gown,

Moaning from the ecstasy of hangovers.

فأجابَ كلاّ دون ما بكَ ما بي

أنا في رُبى عاليه ضاع شبابي

It answered: Not so! Apart from what makes you weep, what ails you?

I am in sublime education where my youth was wasted.

وشهدتُ للسفَّاح ما

أبكى دما

And I witnessed the killer whom I saw,

It made me weep blood,

ويل له ما أظلما

لكنما

Woe to him, how unjust!

But not like you.

لم ألْقَ مِثْلَكَ طالعاً في روعةٍ

فاذهبْ لعلَّكَ أنتَ يَومُ المحشرِ

I have never encountered anyone with your good fortune.

Go, perhaps you are the Day of Resurrection!

اليومُ تُنكرهُ اللَّيالي الغابرهْ

وتظلّ تَرْمقُه بعينٍ حائره

The days deny him while the passed nights

Keep glancing at him with confused eyes.

عجباً لأحكام القضاءِ الجائرهْ

فأخفُّها أمثالُ ظُلمٍ سائره

How strange are the judgements of unjust fate!

Yet its least are like prevailing injustice.

وطن يسيرُ إلى الفناءْ

بلا رجاءْ

A country moves toward annihilation

Without hope,

والداءُ ليس له دواءْ

إلا الإباءْ

And the disease has no cure

Save resignation.

إن الإباءَ مَناعةٌ إن تَشْتَمِلْ

نفسٌ عليه تَمُتْ ولَّما تُقهرِ

Resignation indeed is a defense, if

A soul takes it on though dying unconquered.

الكلُّ يرجو أن يُبكِّرَ عَفْوُهُ

نَدْعو له ألاّ يُكّدَّرَ صفُوهُ

All hope that his pardon will come early.

We pray it will not cloud his serenity.

إنْ كان هذا عطفُهُ وحُنُوُّهُ

عاشتْ جلاَلتُهُ وعاشَ سُموّهُ

If this is his compassion and gentleness,

Long live His Majesty and long live his loftiness!

حَمَلَ البريدُ مُفصِّلاً

ما أجملا

The mail bore it out in detail -

How beautiful!

هَلا اكتَفَيتَ تَوَسُّلا

وَتَسَوُّلا

Why not just implore

And supplicate?

والموتُ في أخذِ الكلامِ وردَّهِ

فخذِ الحياةَ عن الطرَّيقِ الأقصرِ

And death takes speech and renders it.

So take life by the shortest path.

ضاق البريدُ وما تغيَّرَ حالُ

والذّلّ بين سطورِنا أشكالُ

The mailbag narrowed and the situation did not change,

And humiliation in our lines has forms.

خُسْرانُنا الأَّرواح والأموالُ

وكرامةٌ يا حسرتا أسمالُ

Our loss is souls and monies

While dignity - would that it had values!

أوَتُبصرونَ وتسألونْ

ماذا يكونْ

Do you see and ask

What will happen?

إنَّ الخداعَ له فنونْ

مثْلَ الجنونْ

Deception has skills

Like madness.

هيهات فالنفس الذليلة لو غدت

مخلوقةً من أعينٍ لم تُبْصرِ

Far from it! If the abject soul became

A creature of eyes, still it would not see.

أَّنى لشاكٍ صوتُه أنْ يُسُمَعا

أَنَّى لباكٍ دمعهُ أنْ يَنفعا

How can one whose voice doubts be heard?

How can one whose eye weeps benefit?

صخرٌ أحسَّ رجاءَنا فتصدَّعا

وأتى الرجاءُ قلوبَهم فتقطَّعا

It is rock that felt our hope and cracked,

And hope came to their hearts and was hacked to pieces.

لا تعجبوا فمن الصخورْ

نبعٌ يفورْ

Do not wonder - from rocks

A spring gushes.

ولهم قلوبٌ كالقبورْ

بلا شعورْ

And they have hearts

Like tombs, without feeling.

لا تلتمسْ يوماً رجاءً عندَ مَنْ

جرَّبْتَهُ فوجدتَهُ لم يَشْعُرِ

Never seek one day to have hope in one

Whom you have tested and found unfeeling.