أيٌّ حُصنٍ كأنّهُ لتعاليه

أيٌّ حُصنٍ كأنّهُ لتعاليه

على كاهل السّماء مَشيدُ

على كاهل السّماء مَشيدُ

What a fortress—so lofty it seems

What fortress is it that in its loftiness

built upon the shoulder of heaven.

Is built upon the shoulder of the sky?

كل شهرٍ يبدو عليه هلالُ

كل شهرٍ يبدو عليه هلالُ

الأُفق تاجاً حيثُ السحابُ برودُ

الأُفق تاجاً حيثُ السحابُ برودُ

Each month, upon it appears the crescent

Each month the crescent moon appears on it

of the horizon as a crown, where the clouds are cloaks.

As the horizon crowns it where clouds are cold.

وكأنَّ الجوزاءَ منطقة دا

وكأنَّ الجوزاءَ منطقة دا

رت عليه وللثريا عقودُ

رت عليه وللثريا عقودُ

And Orion seems a girdle encircling

As if the Gemini wrapped it with a belt,

it, and the Pleiades have necklaces.

And for the Pleiades it has necklaces.

كلّمتهم بالسّبِّ ألسِنَةُ النّا

كلّمتهم بالسّبِّ ألسِنَةُ النّا

رِ بما تَقْشَعِرًّ مِنْهُ الجلودُ

رِ بما تَقْشَعِرًّ مِنْهُ الجلودُ

They were addressed with curses by the tongues of

The tongues of fire have insulted them

fire, with words that make the skin shudder.

With what would make even skins shudder.

وأشارَتْ أيدي المجانيق عندي

وأشارَتْ أيدي المجانيق عندي

شُهب صَخْرِ لم ينجُ منها مزيدُ

شُهب صَخْرِ لم ينجُ منها مزيدُ

And the catapults' hands gestured before me

And the trebuchets signaled at my side

with meteors of rock, from which Mazid did not escape.

With comets whose like has no remainder.

ما أحسوا والنّارُ تُضرَمُ إلا

ما أحسوا والنّارُ تُضرَمُ إلا

كل بُرجٍ في ثقبه أُخدودُ

كل بُرجٍ في ثقبه أُخدودُ

They perceived nothing, while the fire was kindled, except that

They felt it not while fire was kindled

every tower had a trench within its opening.

In each tower, so deep was its hollow.

فتداعَتْ أبراجُها للظى النّا

فتداعَتْ أبراجُها للظى النّا

ر جَميعاً إذْ هُمْ عليها قعودُ

ر جَميعاً إذْ هُمْ عليها قعودُ

So its towers collapsed under the blaze of

So its towers collapsed from the heat of the fire

fire, all together, as they sat atop them.

When all upon it sat confined.