ذكرى وفاتك إحياء لأعمال

من صنع عزمك أم بعث لأجيال

Is the memory of your passing a revival of deeds wrought by your resolve, or a resurrection for generations?

Or is it the unfolding of pages of struggle through which you defended high values, and a fight of great import?

ام نشر صحف جهاد ذدت عن قيم

عليا به ونضال منك ذي بال

Or a presentation of a people's revolution you led with ideas, long before anyone was scorched by its fire?

O pioneer of the people, you marched them toward their goals, in faith and worldly life, with your far-ranging thought.

أم عرض ثورة شعب كنت قائدها

بالرأي من قبل ان يصلى بها صالي

I was invited to this memorial to bear witness, yet reminders are truly meant for those who have forgotten.

By God, the thought of forgetting you never crossed my mind, nor has your memory ever departed from my thoughts.

يا رائد الشعب للأهداف سرت به

دينا ودنيا بفكر منك جوال

It is as if the tragedy of your death has not passed, nor has a single moment elapsed in this desolate year.

Here are your sons, who have forever held fast to the hem of your immortal, lofty legacy.

إني دعيت الى الذكرى لأشهدها

وإنما تعرض الذكرى على السالي

They have passed the cup of the covenant among themselves, in your name, a pure draft following a pure draft.

And they have presented to you precious, arranged offerings upon tables of honor and reverence.

تالله ما خطرت سلواك في خلدى

يوما ولا عبرت ذكراك من بالي

They gifted you the choicest verses of their poems, whose listeners admit to the reciter that they are pure magic.

You are rich, through the ideals you immortalized, beyond need for the praise of rhyme or the raising of statues.

كأن موتك ما مرت فجيعته

ولا خلت لحظة من عامه الخالي

Through knowledge, you revived a people, most of whom were being driven to the grave in the twin shrouds of ignorance and neglect.

You came with light held high in your right hand, clearing the darkness from eyes that had gone astray.

هنا بنوك الذين استمسكوا أبدا

من رمزك الخالد السامي باذيال

Were you Jesus, who revived dust and bones, exchanging ends for new beginnings?

Or were you the bearer of glad tidings who cast the shirt upon Jacob, a cure of light clearing away his grief?

لقد تساقوا شراب العهد بينهم

على اسم ذكراك سلسالا بسلسال

Or were you simply Al-Bashir, who delivered sermons to the people of Algeria, gazed upon with reverence?

You lived for freedom of thought and expression, a symbol through your aim to shatter shackles.

وقدموا لك أعلاقا منسقة

على موائد تكريم وإجمال

Freedom of thought and expression is a virtuous trait of every brave and generous heart.

How many a purposeful word of truth did you proclaim, challenging every assailant?

فأتحفوك عيونا من قصائدهم

أقر سامعها بالسحر للتالي

And in the awakening, you stood tall and proud, like a mountain against all confusion and disruption.

You taught the reformers a lesson in patience, lofty in meaning, for you did not repay torment with torment.

انت الغني بما خلدت من مثل

عن مدح قافية أو رفع تمثال

Your victory was a blessing after misfortune for the country, and security following terrors.

O people, your gathering on the day of Al-Bashir resembles a lion's thicket where young cubs meet.

أحييت بالعلم شعبا سيق معظمه

للقبر في كفني جهل وإهمال

The memory of great men is a lighthouse for men; a guide and a model of heroes for heroes.

There is no loyalty to the living after his death, except by preserving what he left behind and completing it.

وجئت بالنور في يمناك ترفعه

تجلو الغياهب عن أبصار ضلال

Al-Bashir is truly the writer of the age and its scholar, unique in his sources, dictating peerless knowledge.

When he narrated poetry and history, he was like Al-Asma'i, and when he dictated, he was like Al-Qali.

هل كنت عيسى الذي أحيا الرفاة بما

أحيا وبدل آجالا بآجال

The Association of Scholars claimed him for its own, and in its hand, he was like a sharp, adorned sword.

He found comfort in glory yet never looked down on anyone, nor did he turn his cheek in arrogance.

أم البشير الذي ألقى القميص على

يعقوب طبا بنور للأسى جالي

Sometimes he would jest in his gathering, his speech sweet with verses of Rajaz and Zajal.

But when the people's plight turned serious, he rose to the occasion, dictating sermons with dignity, no longer in jest.

أم البشير الذي القى العظات على

شعب الجزائر مرموقا باجلال

Ask Medina about what he narrated and the books he mastered, and his unceasing research and inquiry.

Ask Riyadh and ask Umm Al-Qura, for they know best the honor and reception he achieved.

حرية الفكر والتعبير عشت لها

رمزا بما رمت من تحطيم أغلال

And ask Damascus, for long ago he enriched her soil with a pouring deluge of literature.

And about high curricula of education and upbringing, designed to graduate luminaries and heroes.

حرية الفكر والتعبير ظاهرة

فضلى لكل شجاع القلب مفضال

And his solution to the challenge of Arabization, where he sought to simplify it and avoid all complexity.

He said: Let us begin with the eloquent words we teach to children in their lessons.

ورب قولة صدق منك هادفة

أعلنتها تتحدى كل صوال

And it will transfer from circles of knowledge, through interaction, to circles of ignorance.

Say to the teacher: You have multiplied solutions until you are lost in confusion and anxiety.

ونهضة كنت فيها شامخا أنفا

كالطود عن كل تشويش وإخلال

How does confusion befit a professor when tracing a branch back to its root without error?

Your task was nothing but the forging of minds, or the crafting of tongues from precious metal.

أعطيت في الصبر درسا للدعاة سما

مغزى فلم تجز أنكالا بأنكال

I see you as the leader in the campaign of Arabization, so how can you fail due to the discouragement of defeatists?

Fulfill the mission as long as the present allows, and be optimistic about the future of Arabization.

وكان نصرك يمنا بعد مشأمة

على البلاد وأمنا بعد أهوال

For branches naturally grow toward their roots, so graft them with hope.

Preserve the spirit in what you acquire, and turn away from every imported thing that kills the soul.

يا شعب حفلك في يوم البشير بدا

غيلا تلاقت به أشبال رئبال

Select carefully from the arts of science you acquire, for they come in many hues and forms.

How the people in this new era need a new generation that sifts through modern knowledge!

ذكرى الرجال منار للرجال لهم

هاد وقدوة أبطال بأبطال

A generation seasoned in harvest, exuding from its culture the scent of roses and the desert fragrance of wormwood and lotus.

Neglect of poetry has hidden every talent and hindered all creativity and excellence.

ولا وفاء لحي بعد ميته

إلا بحفظ لما أبقى وإكمال

It has obscured the brilliant ones of the past, burying them under denial and neglect.

How many a youth among them, if nurtured in literature, would have achieved fame like Shawqi or Iqbal?

إن البشير أديب العصر عالمه

فذ الأسانيد أملى فذ أنقال

Woe to genius without a patron; its end is the bankruptcy of talent or sinking into the mire.

What ails the youth, that they have abandoned their duties and busied themselves with idle gossip?

اذا روى الشعر والأخبار كان بها

كـ (ـالأصمعي) وإن أملى فـ (ـكالقالي)

They roam the streets in idleness; oh, the pity for youth wasting the prime of their lives doing nothing.

I see thirst spreading without limit, and I see the most miserable of thirsty souls chasing a mirage.

جمعية العلماء استخلصته لها

فكان في كفها كالصارم الحالي

Come to knowledge, let us drink from its springs, taking draft after draft, quenching our thirst.

Perhaps we may follow in Al-Bashir's footsteps, in every fertile planting and abundant harvest of his.

يرتاح للمجد لكن ما ازدى أحدا

ولم يصعر له خدا كمختال

And follow his great contributions and awakening of the people during the Great Revolution and his deeds.

How often he devised ideal plans for it, clarified its goals, and sought the best path forward.

وكان يمزح احيانا بمجلسه

عذب الحديث بأرجاز وأزجال

He toured the capitals of the East, triumphant, rallying enthusiastic leaders with his words.

Until the Liberation Front rose high and triumphed, and the time came to lay down the burdens of war.

لكن اذا جد جد الشعب قام به

يملي العظات وقورا غير هزال

And the army advanced, banners raised over the land of Algeria, with beaming faces and clear minds.

How could our heroes be defeated, when they paired the firing of bullets with chants of God’s greatness?

سل المدينة عما قد روى وحوى

كتبا وواصل من بحث وتسآل

They bequeathed to the people the liberation of the land, just as they won spoils from the retreating usurper.

How could the world not submit to our revolution, when it has tested our might in every cataclysm?

سل الرياض وسل أم القرى فهما

أدرى بما نال من عز وإقبال

Why then, today, should we not cast our hope upon a government of our own, rising to bear our burdens?

وسل دمشق فقدما جاد تربتها

بمرجحن من الآداب هطال

وعن مناهج تعليم وتربية

عليا لتخريج أعلام وأبطال

وحله مشكل التعريب حيث راى

تيسيره وتحامى كل اشكال

فقال نبدؤه مما نلقنه

في الدرس من كلم فصحى لأطفال

وسوف ينقل من أوساط معرفة

بالإحتكاك إلى أوساط جهال

قل للمعلم اكثرت الحلول الى

أن صرت في حيرة منها وبلبال

وكيف تجمل بالأستاذ حيرته

في رد فرع لأصل دون إخلال

ما كان شغلك إلا صنع أدمغة

او صوغ ألسنة من معدن عالي

أراك في حملة التعريب قائدها

فكيف تفشل من تثبيط خذال

أد الرسالة ما واتاك حاضرها

وكن بمستقبل التعريب ذا فال

إن الفروع به تنمو بفطرتها

إلى الأصول فطعمها بآمال

حافظ على الروح فيما تقتنيه ومل

عن كل مستورد للروح قتال

وخذ ودع من فنون العلم مقتنيا

فإنها ذات ألوان وأشكال

ما أحوج الشعب في العصر الجديد الى

نشء جديد لعلم العصر نخال

مخضرم القطف يذكو من ثقافته

عرف الورود وريح الشيخ والضال

الزهد في الشعر أخفى كل موهبة

وعاق عن كل إبداع وافضالي

وأخمل النابهين السابقين بما

باؤوا به من جحود أي إخمال

كم ناشئ فيه لو يعنى به ادبا

لذاع صيتا كشوقي أو كإقبال

ويح النبوغ بلا راع فغايته

إفلاس موهبة أو خوض أو حال

ما للشباب تخلى عن وظائفه

وصار مشتغلا بالقيل والقال

جاب الشوارع بطالا فيا أسفا

على شباب بزهر العمر بطال

ارى العطاش بلا حد فشوا وأرى

أشقى العطاش نفوسا وأردى الآل

هيا الى العلم نكرع من موارده

ونعقب الشرب إنهالا بإعلال

لعلنا نقتفي أثر البشير به

في كل غرس له خصب واغلال

وما له من يد طولى وتوعية

للشعب في الثورة العظمى وأعمال

كم خطط الخطط المثلى لها وجلا

أهدافها وتحرى خير منوال

وجال في عاصمات الشرق منتصرا

بالحمس من قادة فيها وأقوال

حتى علت جبهة التحرير وانتصرت

وقررت وضع أوزار وأثقال

واقبل الجيش مرفوع اللواء على

أرض الجزائر طلق الوجه والبال

وكيف يهزم أبطال لنا شفعوا

رمي الرصاص بتكبير وإهلال!

فأورثوا الشعب تحرير البلاد كما

باؤوا من الغاصب الجالي بأنفال

وكيف لا تذعن الدنيا لثورتنا

وقد بلت بأسنا في كل زلزال

وما لنا اليوم لا نلقي الرجاء على

حكم لنا ناهض عنا بأحمال