1. أعرني النجم أوهب لي يراعا

    يزيد الرافعيين ارتفاعا

    Lend me the star, or give me a reed pen

    that raises the Rafi‘is higher still.

  2. مكان الشمس أضوأ أن يُحلى

    وأنبه في البرية أن يذاعا

    The sun's station is too radiant to be adorned,

    and too renowned among humankind to need proclaiming.

  3. بنو الشرق الكرام الوارثوه

    خلال البر والشرف اليَفاعا

    The noble sons of the East inherit from it

    the qualities of righteousness and lofty honor.

  4. تأمل شمسهم ومدى ضحاها

    تجد في كل ناحية شعاعا

    Contemplate their sun and the reach of its morning light;

    you will find a ray in every direction.

  5. قد اقتسموا ممالكه فكانت

    لهم وطنا من الفصحى مشاعا

    They have shared out its realms, which became

    for them a shared homeland of eloquent Arabic.

  6. هم زادوا القضاء جمال وجه

    وازدوا غُرة الفتيا ألتماعا

    They added beauty to the face of justice,

    and bestowed radiance on the bright brow of legal rulings.

  7. أبوا في محنة الأخلاق إلا

    لياذا في العقيدة وأمتناعا

    Amid the ordeal of morals, they refused all but

    refuge in faith and protection.

  8. أووا شيبا وشبانا إليها

    تخالهم الصحابة والتِّباعا

    Gray-haired and young, they took refuge in it;

    you would think them the Companions and their followers.

  9. إذا أُسد الثرى شبعت فعفت

    رأيت شبابهم عفّوا جياعا

    When earth's lions are sated and then abstain,

    you see their young men abstaining while hungry.

  10. فلم تر مصر أصدق من أمين

    ولا أفوى إذا ريعت دفاعا

    Egypt has seen none more truthful than Amin,

    nor stronger in her defense when she is alarmed.

  11. فتى لم يعط مِقوده زمانا

    شرى الاحرارَ بالدنيا وباعا

    A young man who never handed his reins to an age

    that bought and sold free men for worldly gain.

  12. عظيم في الخصومة ما تجنى

    ولا ركب السباب ولا القذاعا

    Noble in dispute, he never wronged anyone,

    nor resorted to abuse or obscenity.

  13. تمرّس بالنضال فلست تدرى

    أأقلاما تناول أم نباعا

    He was so practiced in struggle that you cannot tell

    whether he took up pens or bows of nab‘ wood.

  14. ويابن السابق المزرى أرتجالا

    بروّاض القصائد وابتداعا

    And O son of the forerunner, who outdoes, in improvisation,

    the tamers of odes, and in invention too!

  15. أما يكفى أباك السبق حتى

    أتى بك أطول الشعراء باعا

    Was first place not enough for your father, that

    he brought you forth, the poet of the longest reach?

  16. شدا الحادى بشعرك في الفيافي

    وحركت الرعاة به اليراعا

    The camel-driver sang your verse in the wilderness,

    and shepherds set their reed pipes playing to it.

  17. وفات الطير ألفاظا فحامت

    على المعنى فصاغته صناعا

    It outstripped the birds in words, so they circled

    over its meaning and skillfully fashioned it.

  18. إذا حضر البلابَل فيه لحنٌ

    تبادرت الحمام له استماعا

    When a melody within it comes to the nightingales,

    the doves hasten to listen to it.

  19. مشى لُبنان في عرس القوافي

    وأقبل ربوةواختال قاعا

    Lebanon walked in the wedding of rhymes,

    and came forth as a hill and strutted as a plain.

  20. وهز المنكبين لمهرجان

    زها كالباقة الحسنى وضاعا

    It shook both shoulders for a festival

    that bloomed like a beautiful bouquet and wafted fragrance.

  21. وأقبلت الوفود عليه تترى

    كسرب النحل في الثمرات صاعا

    Delegations came to it in succession,

    like a swarm of bees darting among the fruits.

  22. غدا يزجى الركاب وراح حتى

    أظل دمشق وانتظم البقاعا

    Morning and evening it urged the mounts onward, until

    it overspread Damascus and embraced the Beqaa.

  23. ترى ثَم القرائح والروابي

    تبارين افتنانا واختراعا

    There you see creative minds and hills

    vying in artistry and invention.

  24. ربيع طبيعة وربيع شعر

    تخلل نفح طِيبِهما الرباعا

    A springtime of nature and a springtime of verse,

    the breath of their fragrance has pervaded the dwellings.

  25. كأنك بالقبائل في عكاظ

    تجاذبت المنابر والتلاعا

    It is as though you saw the tribes at ‘Ukaz,

    contending for the pulpits and hillocks.

  26. بنت ملكا من الفصحى وشادت

    بوحدتها الحياة والاجتماعا

    They built a kingdom of eloquent Arabic and raised,

    through its unity, life and fellowship.

  27. فعادت أمة عجبا وكانت

    رعاة الشاء والبدو الشعاعا

    Thus they became a wondrous nation, though they had been

    shepherds of sheep and scattered desert nomads.

  28. أمير المهرجان وددت أنى

    أَرى في مهرجانك أو أراعى

    O prince of the festival, I wished that I

    might be seen at your festival, or shown regard.

  29. عدت دون الخفوف له عواد

    تحدَّين المشيئة والزَّعاما

    Hindrances barred my hurrying to it,

    defying my will and resolve.

  30. وما أنا حين سار الركب إلا

    كباغي الحج همَّ فما استطاعا

    When the caravan departed, I was nothing but

    like one seeking pilgrimage, resolved but unable.

  31. أقام بغبنه لم يقض حقا

    ولا بلّ الصبابة والنزاعا

    He remained in his disappointment, fulfilling no duty,

    nor slaking his passionate longing and yearning.

  32. طرابلس أنثنِى عِطفي أديم

    وموجى ساحلا وثبى شراعا

    Tripoli, sway your two earthen flanks,

    surge as a shore, and leap as a sail.

  33. كسا جنباتك الماضي جلالا

    وراق عليه مِيسمه وراعا

    The past clothed your sides in majesty,

    and its mark upon that glory charmed and awed.

  34. وما من أمس للاقوام بد

    وإن ظنوا عن الماضي انقطاعا

    No people can dispense with yesterday,

    though they may think themselves severed from the past.

  35. ألم تسقي الجهاد وتطعميه

    وتحمى ظهره حقبا تباعا

    Did you not give the struggle drink and feed it,

    and guard its back through successive ages?

  36. شراعك في الفِنيقيين جلَّى

    وذكرك في الصليبين شاعا

    Your sail led the field among the Phoenicians,

    and your renown spread among the Crusaders.

  37. كأنى بالسفين غدت وراحت

    حيالك تحمل العلم المطاعا

    I seem to see the ships departing at dawn and returning at dusk,

    before you, bearing the banner that commanded obedience.

  38. صلاح الدين يرسلها رياحا

    وآونة يصففها قلاعا

    Salah al-Din sends them forth like winds,

    and at times arrays them like fortresses.

  39. أليس البحر كان لنا غديرا

    وكانت فلكنا البجع الرتاعا

    Was not the sea once a pool for us,

    and our ships pelicans feeding at ease?

  40. غمرنا بالحضارة ساحليه

    فما عيَّا بحائطها اضطلاعا

    We flooded both its shores with civilization,

    and it never faltered in shouldering her enclosing wall.

  41. توارثناه أبلج عبقريا

    ذلول المتن منبسطا وساعا

    We inherited it, radiant and wondrous,

    docile-backed, outspread and vast.

  42. ترى حافاته انفجرت عيونا

    ورفت من جوانبه ضياعا

    You see its edges burst into springs,

    and farms flourish along its sides.

  43. فما زدنا الكتاب الفخم حرفا

    ولا زدنا العصور الزُهر ساعا

    But we added not a letter to the magnificent book,

    nor an hour to the radiant ages.

  44. قعدنا معقد الآباء منه

    فكنا البَهم قد خلف السباعا

    We sat in our forefathers' place upon it,

    and were lambs that had succeeded beasts of prey.

  45. كأن الشمس مسلمة اصابت

    عفيفا في طيالسه شجاعا

    It is as though the sun were a Muslim woman who had found

    a chaste, brave man in his cloaks.

  46. تَحَجَّبُ عن بحار الله حتى

    إذا خطرت به نضت القناعا

    She veils herself from God's seas, until

    when she glides over him, she strips off her veil.

  47. وما رأت العيون أجل منها

    على أجزاء هيكله اطلاعا

    No eyes have seen anything more majestic than her,

    as she looks upon the parts of his frame.

  48. فما كشروقها منه نعيما

    ولا كغرو بها فيه متاعا

    No bliss is like her rising from him,

    nor any delight like her setting in him.