ويح الجزائر ما دهاها مالها
تدعو دراك وتستغيث رجالها
Woe unto Algeria! What has struck her? What ails her?
She calls for rescue and cries out to her men for aid.
ويح الجزائر أصبحت مكروبة
ولهى تئن فمن يكون ثمالها
Woe unto Algeria! She has become distraught,
Grief-stricken and moaning; who will be her support?
مفجوعة ثكلت فتاة برة
حسناء شوهت المنون جمالها
Bereaved, she has lost a righteous daughter,
A beauty whose loveliness Death has disfigured.
تذري على الأصنام صيب دمعها
وتردد الزفرات مما نالها
She sheds torrents of tears over Al-Asnam,
And repeats her heavy sighs over what has befallen her.
أسفي على الأصنام رجت دورها
تحت الظلام وزلزلت زلزالها
My sorrow for Al-Asnam—her houses shook
Beneath the darkness, convulsed by her earthquake.
مارجها الزلزال حتى ردها
بعد الأناقة دمنة وأحالها
The quake churned her until it rendered her,
After elegance, a ruin, and transformed her state.
تجتاح أرواح الشقاء ديارها
وتجوس أشباح الفناء خلالها
Spirits of misery sweep through her dwellings,
And ghosts of annihilation roam amidst her spaces.
تقف الوفود بها صوامت تجتلى
آثارها وترى بها أطلالها
Delegations stand therein, silent, gazing upon
Her traces, witnessing her ruins with their own eyes.
تسدى العزاء إلى بقايا أهلها
بعد المصاب وتشكر استبسالها
Offering solace to the remnants of her people
After the calamity, and praising their bravery.
وتناول الجرحى وسائل برئها
عطفا وتجزل للجياع نوالها
Handing the wounded the means of their healing
With compassion, and giving generously to the starving.
بدع أصاب من الزلزال أرضها
فأزاح بهجة عيشها وأزالها
A strange disaster from the earthquake struck her land,
Displacing the joy of her life and erasing it.
ودهى جميع قلاعها ورباعها
وضياعها ودهى البلاد حيالها
It struck all her citadels and quarters,
Her estates, and afflicted the surrounding countryside.
أخلى أواهلها وخلى حولها
سبعين ألفا تطلب المأوى لها
It emptied her of residents and left around her
Seventy thousand seeking shelter for themselves.
تتجاذب الخبراء حبل حديثه
وعلى حقيقته تطيل جدالها
Experts pull at the threads of debate regarding it,
And prolong their arguments about its true nature.
هل كان بعض صواعق جوية
الله قدر وحده إنزالها
Was it some thunderbolts from the atmosphere
That God alone decreed to send down?
أم كان هزة تربة نارية
طغت المياه فسببت إشعالها
Or was it a tremor of fiery earth,
Where waters overflowed and caused its ignition?
أم كان بعض تجارب ذرية
بعض المخابر دبراستعمالها
Or was it some atomic experiments
That certain laboratories plotted to employ?
لم نكتشف سببا له متيقنا
إلا افتراضات نحوك خيالها
We have not discovered a certain cause for it,
Only assumptions that imagination weaves.
ما في خرائبه لشاهدها سوى
عبر تفك عن العقول عقالها
There is nothing in its ruins for the observer save
Lessons that release minds from their shackles.
فترى الديار على الديار أكبها
وترى الجبال على الجبال أمالها
You see houses overturned upon houses,
And you see mountains tilted upon mountains.
خرت مطأطئة الرؤوس فبددت
حول السفوح صخورها ورمالها
They fell, bowing their heads, and scattered
Their rocks and sands around the slopes.
فكأنها سفن ببحر هائج
صخب تميل يمينها وشمالها
As if they were ships in a raging sea,
Clamorous, listing to the right and the left.
ولرب دار هزها من أسها
وأدارها مثل الرحى واجالها
How many a house it shook from its foundation,
Spinning it like a millstone and moving it about!
ولرب دار زجها في هوة
فمحا مبانيها وأقبر آلها
And how many a house it hurled into an abyss,
Erasing its buildings and entombing its family!
وترى أعاصير الرياح أثارها
حربا تسدد للكبود نبالها
You see the hurricanes of wind raising its dust,
A war aiming arrows at human hearts.
وترى الكواكب في سواد قاتم
مثل الثكالى استشعرت اسمالها
You see the stars in gloomy blackness,
Like bereaved mothers wrapped in their rags.
وترى أخاديد الشقوق رهيبة
في العمق توغل في الثرى ايغالها
You see terrible furrows of cracks
Penetrating deep into the soil.
فكأنها أحناء أودية بدت
لكن بنيران البخار أسالها
As if they were the bends of valleys revealed,
But streams of steam caused them to flow.
وترى بها القتلى هنا وهناك قد
طمس التراب على الثرى أشكالها
You see the dead therein, here and there,
The dust having obliterated their shapes upon the ground.
بينا قضوا في النوم زلفة ليلهم
في دورهم متفيئين ظلالها
While they spent their portion of the night in sleep,
Inside their homes, resting in their shadows,
إذ طاف بالبلوى عليهم طائف
خسف الديار وعجل استئصالها
A specter of calamity circled over them,
Swallowing the houses and hastening their uprooting.
عجبا لها من رجة أرضية
ما شاهد الجيل الحديث مثالها
Wonder at it! An earthly tremor
The like of which the modern generation has not seen.
دوت دوي الرعد ثم تدكدكت
بالآهلين وأخرجت اثقالها
It boomed with the sound of thunder, then crushed
The inhabitants, and the earth brought forth its burdens.
وتتابعت رجاتها وتكررت
أنكالها فتجرعوا أنكالها
Its tremors followed in succession, and its punishments
Were repeated, so they swallowed its torments.
أردت قبيلة (راشد) وتذيلت
فاشهد (تنس) تجدبها أذيالها
It destroyed the tribe of Rashid and trailed off;
Witness Tenes, as its tails dragged it down.
وبواديى (شلف) ألم و(فضة)
تبصر إلى (مجانة) استرسالها
And in the valleys of Chlef was pain, and in Fodda;
You see its extension reaching to Medjana.
أودت بأعلاق التلاد وأزهقت
مهج العباد ومزقت أوصالها
It destroyed precious heirlooms and extinguished
The souls of worshipers, tearing their limbs apart.
وجرت حوادث قبلها لم تجر من
قبل الزلازل ضاعفت أهوالها
Events occurred before it that had never happened
Prior to the earthquakes that doubled their terrors.
عوت الكلاب وخارت الأبقار في
هلع كأن قد ألهمت اقبالها
The dogs howled and the cows lowed in
Panic, as if inspired by its approach.
ولعل فيها عبرة لذوي النهى
وهدي يقي النفس اللجوج ضلالها
Perhaps in this is a lesson for those of intellect,
And guidance protecting the stubborn soul from its error.
فالنفس لم تترك غرائز خبثها
والآدمية لم تدع صلصالها
For the soul has not abandoned its malicious instincts,
And humanity has not left its clay nature behind.
وبنو الجزائر في سفاسف عيشهم
خلف اللذائذ ينشدون وصالها
While the sons of Algeria, in the trivialities of their life,
Chase after pleasures, seeking their union.
ترجو الجزائر أن تناضل حرة
عن حقها فيعرقلون نضالها
Algeria hopes to struggle as a free nation
For her right, but they hinder her struggle.
وتحولت حكامها ظلامها
وتبدلت انصارها خذالها
Her rulers have turned into her oppressors,
And her supporters have changed into her deserters.
فلذاك أنذرنا الإله برجة
في كل يوم نسمع استفحالها
For that reason, God warned us with a tremor;
Every day we hear of its worsening.
كم كرمة ألوت بها وحديقة
عصفت بها ومن استغل غلالها
How many a vine it twisted, and a garden
It stormed through, along with he who harvested its crops!
وسراية قد زينت بأسرة
تؤوي عرائس لا تحد دلالها
And a mansion adorned with beds,
Sheltering brides whose pampering knew no bounds.
خسفت بها فتقوضت وتعوضت
من يمنها شؤما يقبح فالها
It swallowed them, so they collapsed, exchanging
Their good fortune for an omen of ugly fate.
لم تبق ربات الحجال بها كما
لم تبق إلا في الحضيض حجالها
The ladies of the chambers did not remain therein,
Just as their chambers remained only in the abyss.
كم أسرة في عزها وجلالها
نشأت أضاعت عزها وجلالها
How many a family in its glory and majesty
Grew up, then lost its glory and majesty!
امست مشردة تهيم فقيرة
تبكي سعادتها وتندب مالها
It became homeless, wandering in poverty,
Weeping for its happiness and mourning its wealth.
كم مرضع صاد الحمام وحيدها
كالنسر صاد حمامة فاغتالها
How many a nursing mother whose only child Death hunted,
Like an eagle hunting a dove, assassinating it!
فتحرقت حزنا عليه وأعولت
ترجو إغاثة من يعي اعوالها
She burned with grief for him and wailed,
Hoping for relief from one who understands her wailing.
وخريدة في الآنسات فريدة
نزل البلاء بها فحير بالها
And a virgin, unique among young women,
The calamity descended upon her and bewildered her mind.
صرخت من الانقاض تسأل نجدة
عجلى فلبى المنقذون سؤالها
She screamed from the rubble asking for help,
Urgently, and the rescuers answered her call.
خفوا اليها كالوعول تسابقت
نحو المكانس كي تجير غزالها
They rushed to her like ibexes racing
Towards the coverts to protect their gazelle.
واستنقذوها من مخالب موتها
والخوف يوشك أن يثير خبالها
And they rescued her from the claws of her death,
When fear was about to provoke her madness.
فنجت وصحت بالعلاج وأصبحت
برعاية الاسعاف تحمد حالها
So she survived and recovered with treatment, becoming
Under the care of aid, praising her condition.
إن الجزائر بالجميل مدينة
لمن افتدى الأسر الضياع وعالها
Indeed, Algeria owes a debt of gratitude
To those who ransomed the lost families and supported them.
