1. إذا نَبَتِ الدِّيارُ بحرِّ قومٍ

    فليسَ على المُفارقِ من جناحِ

    When lands grow inhospitable to a people's noble man,

    there is no blame upon the one who departs.

  2. ومنذُ وجَدتُ من همِّي رسيساً

    إلى روحي وأعوزني ارتياحي

    And ever since I felt a lingering trace of my sorrow

    reach my soul, and my peace eluded me,

  3. وما صَعَّرْتُ للأيام خدِّي

    ولم أخفِضْ لنائبةٍ جناحي

    I have never turned my cheek away from the days,

    nor lowered my wing before a calamity.

  4. وضاقَ بيَ الخناق فلمتُ نفسي

    وإن لم يلحُني باللَّوم لاحي

    And the noose tightened around me, so I blamed myself,

    though no reproacher laid blame upon me.

  5. وقد أصبحتُ في زمنٍ ممارٍ

    يريني الجدَّ من خللِ المزاحِ

    And I have come to live in a contentious age,

    that shows me earnestness through the gaps in jest.

  6. رَفَضْتُ إقامتي وَرَكِبْتُ أمراً

    حَريًّا أن يكونَ به صَلاحِي

    I abandoned my residence and embarked on a venture

    likely to bring about my well-being.

  7. تسيرُ بنا بلُجِّ البحر فُلك

    كمثل الطَّير خافقة الجناحِ

    A ship sails with us through the deep sea,

    like a bird beating its wing.

  8. وما زلنا بها حتَّى حللنا

    صَبَاحاً في كويت آل الصبَّاحِ

    And we remained aboard until we arrived

    one morning in Kuwait of the House of al-Sabah,

  9. لدى قوم أعزّ الناس جاراً

    وأندى بالنوال بطون راحِ

    among a people whose neighbors are the best protected of all,

    and whose palms are most generous with gifts.

  10. أباةٌ لا يطوف الضَّيم فيهم

    ولا جار لهم بالمستباحِ

    Proud men, among whom oppression never roams,

    nor is any neighbor of theirs open to violation.

  11. غيوث مكارمٍ وليوث حربٍ

    وأكفاءُ الشجاعةِ والكفاحِ

    Showers of noble deeds and lions of war,

    and worthy peers of courage and combat.

  12. نزلت بهم على سعةٍ ورحبٍ

    وأنس وابتهاجٍ وانشراحِ

    I lodged with them in abundance and spacious ease,

    and in fellowship, joy, and gladness of heart.

  13. فقومٌ ساد عبد الله فيهم

    فبالبأسِ الشَّديدِ وبالسَّماحِ

    For they are a people among whom Abdullah rose to preeminence,

    through fierce valor and generosity.

  14. إذا نزلوا لعمرُ أبيكَ أرضاً

    حَموهَا بالأسِنَّةِ والرِّماحِ

    When they settle in a land—by your father's life—

    they defend it with spearheads and lances.

  15. فكم بدأوا بمكرمةٍ وثنَّوا

    وكم نحروا العدى نحر الأضاحي

    And how often they began with a noble deed and followed it with another,

    and how often they slaughtered foes like sacrificial beasts.

  16. سَقَوا أعداءهم حمرَ المنايا

    بسمر الخطِّ والبيضِ الصفاح

    They made their enemies drink crimson death

    with brown spears of al-Khatt and white, broad-bladed swords.

  17. وما زالت مكارمهم تنادي

    لدى الآمال حيَّ على الفلاحِ

    And their noble deeds have never ceased to call

    amid hopes: 'Come to success!'

  18. بأيديهم شكيمة ذي اقتدارٍ

    تَرُدُّ الجامحين عن الجماحِ

    In their hands is the bridle-bit of one endowed with might,

    which reins the unruly back from running wild.

  19. همُ وضعوا أفاويق المعالي

    كما رَضَعَ الفَصيلُ من اللقاحِ

    They themselves laid out the milk-draughts of lofty honors,

    as the camel calf suckled from milch camels.

  20. إذا ما زرتُهم يوماً وفى لي

    ضميني للزيارةِ بالنجاحِ

    If ever I visited them, the promise was kept for me

    by my guarantor of the visit's success.

  21. بهم أطلَقتُ ألسنَة القوافي

    بما تمليه من كَلِمٍ فصاحِ

    Through them I unleashed the tongues of rhymes,

    with the eloquent words those rhymes dictate.

  22. لقد مُزجَتْ محبَّتهم بروحي

    مزاج الرَّاح بالماءِ القراحِ

    Indeed, love for them has been mingled with my soul,

    as wine is mingled with pure water.

  23. كأَنَّ مديحُهم عندي عقارٌ

    به كانَ اغتباقي واصطباحي

    As though praising them were wine to me,

    with which I took my evening and morning draughts.

  24. ثمِلْتُ بهم وما خامَرْتُ خمراً

    ولا راحي بسطتُ لكأس راحِ

    I grew drunk on them, though I had not mingled with wine,

    nor stretched my palm toward a cup of wine.

  25. ألذُّ من المدامة للندامى

    وها أنا في هواهم غير صاحِ

    Sweeter than wine to drinking companions,

    and here I am, not sober in my love for them.

  26. ولو أنِّي اقترحتُ على زماني

    وأعطاني الزمان على اقتراحي

    And if I made a request of my time,

    and time granted me what I requested,

  27. لما فارقتُهم يوماً ومالي

    إذا وُفِّقْتُ عنهم من براحِ

    I would never part from them for a day, nor would I,

    if granted success, ever depart from them.

  28. ويأبى ذاكَ لي قَدَرٌ متاح

    ونحنُ بقبضةِ القدر المتاحِ

    But an ordained fate denies me that,

    and we are in the grasp of ordained fate.