تلاقي من العمّال أهلُ صفاقس

تلاقي من العمّال أهلُ صفاقس

من البغي ما لم تلق شُؤم القبائل

من البغي ما لم تلق شُؤم القبائل

The people of Sfax face, at the governors’ hands,

Brothers from Sfax, workers I met

oppression such as the ill-fated tribes have never faced.

Evils of tribes they have not known

كانّهم اسمٌ من اللفظُ معرب

كانّهم اسمٌ من اللفظُ معرب

يحلّ به التّغيير من كلّ عامل

يحلّ به التّغيير من كلّ عامل

As though they were an inflected noun in speech,

As if their name, a word Arabized

subject to change by every governing agent.

That changes with each passing year