1. عفواً إذا أكثَرتُ من إنشَادِي

    في كلِّ مَا مِن مَحفلٍ أو نَادِ

    Pardon me if I have recited too much

    at every gathering or assembly.

  2. ووقفتُ بينَ مَصاقِع الخُطباءِ وال

    أُدبَاءِ مَوقِفَ جَائِعٍ مِن زَاد

    And I stood among the most eloquent orators and

    men of letters, like a hungry man before provisions.

  3. فيقَالُ عنِّي شاعرٌ مُتوثِّبٌ

    لِلقَول مثلَ تَوثُّبِ الصَّيَّاد

    So they say of me: a poet poised to spring

    into speech, as a hunter springs.

  4. كَلاَّ فما هىَ بالقَوافِي إنَّها

    آهاتُ أعمَاقِي وصَوتُ بِلادي

    No! These are not rhymes; they are

    sighs from my depths and the voice of my homeland.

  5. فإذا نظَمتُ فقد نظَمتُ عَواطِفي

    وإذا نثرتُ فقد نَثَرتُ فُؤَادي

    So when I compose verse, I versify my feelings;

    and when I compose prose, I scatter my heart.

  6. مَا لي رأيتُ العفوَ يَكثُر ذِكرُهُ

    بِتَردُّدٍ من رائِحٍ أو غَادِ

    Why do I see pardon mentioned so often,

    repeated by those returning at evening or setting out in the morning?

  7. أَهُناكَ مِن جُرمٍ يقَابُ حُكمُهُ

    بالعفوِ عندَ السَّادةِ الأمجَاد

    Is there a crime whose sentence is met

    with pardon by the illustrious masters,

  8. إلا إذا ما المرءُ يُمسِي مُجرِما

    في ذَبِّه عَن مَوطنِ الأجدَاد

    except when a man becomes a criminal

    by defending the homeland of his forefathers?

  9. المُجرمُونَ هُمُ عَن أنفُسِهم عَفوا

    هُوَ منطِقٌ يأبَى قِيَاسَ فَسَاد

    The criminals themselves have pardoned themselves.

    It is a logic that defies even corrupt reasoning;

  10. لكنَّه واللهِ أعظمُ مَظهرٍ

    لتَحَكُّمِ الأضدَادِ في الأضدَاد

    yet, by God, it is the greatest display

    of adversaries ruling arbitrarily over adversaries.

  11. راموا استِمالَ عَواطِفٍ بتلَطُّفٍ

    هيهَات ترجِعُ قَبسةٌ لِزِنَاد

    They sought to sway feelings with gentle overtures;

    never can a spark return to the flint.

  12. لم تُرهِبُوا الآسادَ يا بُعرَانَها

    بشَقائِقِ الإرغَاء والإِزبَاد

    You have not frightened the lions, O their camels,

    with the blossoms of bellowing and foaming.

  13. فخرِ العروبَة حاملِ السَّفينِ مِن

    عَضبِ الوغَى ويرَاعِهِ الميَّادِ

    Pride of Arabhood, bearer of the two swords (probable reading)—

    the keen blade of battle and his swaying reed pen;

  14. شَهبندرِ الوطنِ الشهيرِ بمشرِقٍ

    بِثَباتِ مَبدَئِهِ وصِدقِ جِهَاد

    Shahbandar of the homeland, famed in the East

    for the firmness of his principle and the sincerity of his struggle:

  15. إنِّي أهنِّئكُم بنَيل عزِيمَةٍ

    بثَباتِها تَربُو علَى الأوطان

    I congratulate you on attaining a resolve

    whose steadfastness towers above homelands,

  16. وبجَمعِ إخوانٍ تبسَّمَ عنهُمُ

    شِعرِي كِوردِ الروضِ غِبَّ عِهَاد

    and on a gathering of brothers for whom

    my verse smiled like garden roses after rain—

  17. مِن كلِّ ذي أدبٍ تفَتَّقَ نُورُه

    فأتَى كنظمِ الدُّرِّ في الأجيَاد

    each a man of letters whose light burst forth,

    appearing like pearls strung upon necks.

  18. المسلمُون بمشرِقٍ ومبغرِبٍ

    متآلِفون كعَاتِقٍ ونِجَاد

    Muslims in the East and in the West

    are united in harmony like a shoulder and a sword-baldric.

  19. رُوحٌ من الإخلاصِ وُحِّدَ فيهِمُ

    مُتَقَسَّمٌ في عالَمِ الأجسَادِ

    A spirit of sincerity is united within them,

    distributed through the realm of bodies.

  20. المغربُ الأقصَى اذكرُوه كلَّما

    كانت دموعُكُمُ علَى اتسعدَاد

    Remember the Far Maghreb whenever

    your tears stand ready.

  21. هو منكُمُ وإليكمُ في نسبَةٍ

    لا تُهمِلُوه يا شُعُوبَ الضَّادِ

    It is of you and joined to you in kinship;

    do not neglect it, O peoples of ḍād.

  22. هو مَوطنُ الأمجَاد والأنجَاد مِن

    أهلِيه يَومَ ندىً ويومَ طِرَاد

    It is the homeland of the illustrious and the valiant among

    its people, on days of generosity and days of mounted combat.

  23. ولسوفَ يَرفعُ راسَه ويصُولُ ما

    بينَ الثَّعالِب صَولَةَ الآساد

    And surely it will raise its head and charge

    among the foxes with the charge of lions.

  24. فالدهرُ فينَا ذُو العَجَائب لم تَزل

    أيَّامُه بروائِحٍ وغَوَاد

    For time among us is full of wonders; always

    its days have had evening comings and morning goings.

  25. وزعيمُنا عبدُ العزِيز مثِيلُكُم

    قاسَى مِرَار النفي والإبعَاد

    And our leader, Abd al-Aziz, like you,

    endured the bitterness of exile and banishment.

  26. واليومَ ذاك العفوُ عمَّهُ مِثلكُم

    فكأنَّكُم كُنتُم علَى مِيعَاد

    And today that pardon has embraced him, as it has you,

    so it is as though you had arranged to meet.