1. قُمْ حِّي هذي المنشآت معاهدا

    الناهضاتِ مع النُجومِ خوالدا

    Rise and salute these edifices as academies,

    Rising with the stars, everlasting;

  2. الشامخاتِ أنوُفهن إلى السما

    والمطلعاتِ لفرقَدين فَراقدا

    Towering, their noses reaching toward the sky,

    And raising stars to join the two Farqads;

  3. والفاتحاتِ على الخلودِ نوافذاً

    والمجرياتِ مع الحياة روافدا

    Opening windows onto immortality,

    And setting tributaries flowing alongside life.

  4. قم حيِّهنَّ ببعثِ شعب واثقاً

    وَتَرضَّهُنَّ بخَلق جيلٍ جاهدا

    Rise and salute them, confident, by reviving a people,

    And strive to win their favor by creating a generation.

  5. جَلَّتْ بُنىً تَلدُ الرجال وقُدست

    غُرفٌ تَبوَّأها الخلودُ مقاعدا

    Exalted are buildings that give birth to men, and sacred

    The chambers immortality has taken as its seats.

  6. قم حييِّ هذي الموحيات صوامتاً

    واستنطِقِ الحَجَرَ البليغ الجْامدا

    Rise and salute these silent inspirers,

    And make the eloquent, inert stone speak.

  7. واخلَعْ عليهنَّ المواهبَ تُجتلى

    لا النثَرَ ، لا الشعرَ المعادَ ، قلائدا

    And bestow on them talents to be displayed—

    Not prose, not recycled poetry—as necklaces.

  8. يا بنتَ رسطاليسَ امُّكِ حرَّةٌ

    تلد البنينَ فرائداً وخرائدا

    O daughter of Aristotle, your mother is free;

    She bears sons, rare jewels and unpierced pearls.

  9. وأبوكِ يحتضنُ السرير يَرُبُّها

    ويقوتُها قلباً وذهنا حاشدا

    And your father embraces the bed, nurturing her,

    And nourishes her with a heart and a teeming mind.

  10. مَشَتٍ القرونُ وما يزالُ كعهده

    في أمسِ ، " مشاءً " يعودُ كما بدا

    The centuries have passed, yet he remains as he was

    Yesterday—a “Peripatetic,” returning as he began.

  11. يستنزلُ الخَطراتِ من عَليائها

    عُصْماً ويُدني العالمَ المتباعدا

    He brings thoughts down from their lofty heights,

    Like elusive mountain goats, and draws the far-flung world near.

  12. لم يقتنصنْ جاهاً ولاسامَ النُهى

    ذُلاً ، ولا اتخذَ الحريرَ وسائدا

    He never hunted rank, nor subjected reason

    To humiliation, nor took silk for cushions.

  13. جلَّ النُهى . الفكر أعظمُ عصمةً

    من أنْ يُريدَ وصائفاً وولائدا

    Exalted is reason; thought is too inviolate

    To desire maidservants and slave girls.

  14. يا بنتَ رسطاليسَ قُصِّي نستمعْ

    عن عاشِقيكِ أقارباً وأباعدا

    O daughter of Aristotle, tell us; we shall listen

    Of your lovers, kinsfolk and distant folk;

  15. عن واهبينَ حياتَهم ، ما استُعبِدوا

    للشاكرين ، ولم يَذُموا الجْاحدا

    Of those who gave their lives, never enslaved

    To the grateful, nor blaming the ungrateful;

  16. والصاعدينَ إلى المشانق مثلما

    ارتَقتِ النُّسورُ إلى السماءِ صواعدا

    And those ascending the gallows, just as

    Eagles rose, soaring toward the sky;

  17. ومُحَرَّقين يُغازلون وَقودَها

    شوقاً إليكِ ويَحمَدون الواقدا

    And those burned alive, wooing the fire's fuel

    In longing for you, praising its kindler;

  18. والمُسمَلات عُيونُهم ، وكأنهم

    بطيُوف شخصك يكحلون مراودا

    And those whose eyes were gouged out, as though they

    Line their eyes with visions of your form, using kohl-rods.

  19. قُصِّي فَدَيتُك من لَعوب غَضةٍِ

    تَصِفُ القُرونَ مَخابراً ومَشاهداً

    Tell—may I be your ransom—playful, tender maiden,

    Who recounts centuries of experience and witnessed scenes.

  20. إني وَجدْتُ – وللشبابِ حدودهُ

    أشهى بناتِ الفكر أقصاها مَدى

    I have found—though youth has its limits—

    The most alluring daughters of thought are those of farthest reach.

  21. فتخلّعي نجدِ الفُهومَ عَوارِياً

    وتَبَسمي نجد الفُنونَ نضائدا

    So disrobe; we shall find understanding laid bare,

    And smile; we shall find the arts arrayed.

  22. وتطلَّبي نُزْجِ النفوسَ عزيزةً

    هَدياً وننتظمُ القُلوبَ قصائدا

    And ask; we shall send precious souls

    As offerings, and string hearts into odes.

  23. يا بنت رسطاليس لُحتِ " بواسط "

    فَنزَلت " حيّاً " بالصبابة حاشدا

    O daughter of Aristotle, you appeared in Wasit,

    And alighted in a quarter teeming with ardent love,

  24. خصبَ الشُعور ستَحَمدين مولَّهاً

    من أهله ، ومُغازلاً ، ومُراوِدا

    Fertile in feeling; you will praise an enamored lover

    Among its people, a flirt and a wooer.

  25. إيهٍ " بلاسمُ " والمفاخرُ جَمةٌ

    أحرزتَ مَنهُنَّ الطريفَ التالدا

    Ah, Balasim! The glories are many;

    You have won both their new and inherited honors.

  26. أحرزتَ مجداً ليس ينفدَ ذكرهُ

    طولَ المدى وبذلتَ كنزاً نافِدا

    You have won glory whose renown will not run out

    Through all time, and spent an exhaustible treasure.

  27. ذكرٌ يظَلُّ بكل خطوٍ يرتَمي

    للصف ، او جرَسٍ يُدقُّ معاودا

    Renown that endures with every step hastening

    Toward the classroom, or a bell rung time and again.

  28. خَبِّرْ فقد جُبتَ الحياةَ رخيَّةً

    خضراء َ ، لم تكذِبْ لعينك رائدا

    Tell us, for you have traversed life in ease,

    Verdant, never deceiving your eye as it scouted.

  29. وحَلبتَ من غَفلات دهرِك شطرَها

    وَقنَصتَ من مُتع النَعيم الشاردا

    And milked a share from your age's heedless moments,

    And hunted the elusive pleasures of bliss.

  30. وانسَبْتَ في غُدرُ اللذائذ خائضاً

    وخَبَرتَهن مصادِراً ومَواردا

    And slipped into the pools of delight, wading,

    And known them as sources and watering places.

  31. أعرَفْتَ كالأثر المخلَّدِ لذةً

    جازَتْ مخَلِّدها ، فكان الخالدا

    Have you known a pleasure like an immortal monument,

    That rewarded its immortalizer, making him immortal?

  32. لله درُّك من كريمٍ أنعَشَت

    كفّاهُ روحاً من نبوغ هامدا

    God bless you, a generous man whose

    Two hands revived a dormant spirit of genius.

  33. نَفَّقتَ من عَذَبات صبيان الحِمى

    عِلْقاً بمُنعَرج الأزقةِ كاسدا

    You made marketable, from the sweet gifts of the homeland's boys,

    A treasure left unsold at the bend of the alleys.

  34. إني وَجدتُ مواهباً مطمورةً

    كالزراع أينعَ لمُ يصادفْ حاصدا

    I have found talents buried,

    Like a crop ripened without finding a reaper.

  35. ولربَّ أشعثَ لأغبرٍ ذي هامة

    تُلقي على كَتَفيهِ ثقلاَ آيدا

    And many a disheveled, dust-covered man has a head

    That casts a mighty burden upon his shoulders.

  36. ألوى به فَقرٌ فنكَّب خطوَة

    جَهلٌ فزلَّ عن الفضيلةِ حائدا

    Poverty twisted him; his step was turned aside

    By ignorance, and he slipped, straying from virtue.

  37. قد راحَ يبعَثُ بالتعاسةِ راحماً

    قد كان لولا ذاكَ يرجِعُ حاسدا

    He now arouses pity through his misery,

    Though, but for that, he would have inspired envy.

  38. قُتِلَ العُقوقُ ، فكم قَتَلنا نابغاً

    بين البُيوتِ ، وكم وأدنا قائدا

    Perish neglect! How many a genius have we killed

    Among the homes, and how many a leader buried alive!

  39. اولاء حمدُك عاقِباً عن عاقبٍ

    أتريدُ احسنَ من اولئك حامدا

    These are your praise, successor after successor;

    Do you want a better praiser than these?

  40. سيقولُ عنك الدهرُ : ثَمَةَ ماجدٌ

    في الرافدين شأى الكريم الماجدا

    Time will say of you: there was a noble man

    In the Two Rivers, outstripping the generous nobleman.

  41. هل غيرُ أن رُمتَ الثناء كما ادعي

    نَفَرٌ ، وأن أنْبَهتَ ذكرَكَ عامدا

    Is it merely that you sought praise, as claimed

    By a few, and deliberately made your name renowned—

  42. مجداً على مجد ، فتلكَ طَماحةٌ

    يمشي عليها المجدُ نحوكَ قاصدا

    Glory upon glory? Such an ambition

    Is a path along which glory comes seeking you.

  43. كذَبوا فان الأكرمينَ طرائدٌ

    للمَكْرُماتِ وإنُ حسِبنَ طرائدا

    They lied: the most generous are prey

    To noble deeds, though these are deemed their prey.

  44. وإذا صدقتُ فللخلودِ مصايدٌ

    أبداً تَلَقَّفُ من أتاه صائدا

    And if I speak true, immortality has snares

    Forever snatching whoever comes to it as a hunter.

  45. يمشي الكريمُ مع التكرُّم توأماً

    صنوٌ يسددُ خطوَ صنوٍ عائدا

    The generous man walks with generosity as a twin,

    One twin guiding the other's steps in return.

  46. حتى إذا بلغَ الجميلُ أشُدَّه

    سارَ الكريمُ إلى المكارم فاردا

    Until, when the noble deed reaches maturity,

    The generous man walks alone toward noble deeds.

  47. ما كان باللُغزِ الخلودُ وإنما

    كان النفوسَ نوازلاً و صواعدا

    Immortality was never a riddle; rather,

    It was souls descending and ascending.

  48. هل غيرُ آلافٍ تروحُ كما اغتدت

    بيَدى سواكَ طرائقاً وبدائدا

    Are they more than thousands departing as they arrived,

    At hands other than yours, by scattered paths and in fragments?

  49. تغدو إلى مطمورةٍ ، إن لم تَرُحْ

    للهوِ دوراً ، والقِمارِ موائدا

    They go into a buried hoard, unless they go

    To make houses of amusement and tables for gambling.

  50. احييتَهُنَّ فكانَ عدلاً ناطقاً

    هذا الجمادُ على سمِّكَ شاهدا

    You brought them to life; just and eloquent,

    This lifeless matter bore witness to your name.

  51. وضممتَهُنَّ لبعضِهنَّ مجْهِّزاً

    جيشاً ترُدُّ به الوَباءَ الوافدا

    And joined them to one another, equipping

    An army with which you repel the invading plague:

  52. الجهلَ : اكرمُ ذائدٍ عن موطنٍ

    من راحَ فيه عن الجهالةِ ذائدا

    Ignorance. The noblest defender of a homeland

    Is he who rises there to ward off ignorance.

  53. أعطيتَ حقَّ العلمِ أوفاها ندى

    ومدَدتَ للتعليم أزكاها يَدا

    You granted learning its due with the fullest bounty,

    And held out to education the purest hand.

  54. فاعطِ المعلمَ يا " بلاسمُ " حقهُ

    واعضُدْ فقد عَدِمَ المعلمُ عاضداً

    So give the teacher, O Balasim, his due,

    And support him, for the teacher has lacked a supporter.

  55. لو جازَ للحر السُجودُ تعبًّداً

    لوُجدتُ عبداً للمعلِّم ساجدا

    If a free man were permitted to prostrate himself in worship,

    I would be found a servant prostrating before the teacher:

  56. للمُتعَب المجهودِ في يَقظاتِهِ

    والمرَتعي طيفَ المتاعبِ هاجدا

    Before the weary one, exhausted in his waking hours,

    And grazing on phantoms of hardship while asleep;

  57. والمثُخنِ المجهولِ لم يَنشُد يداً

    تأسوا الجْراحَ ولا تَطلَّب ناشدا

    And the unknown, sorely wounded one, who sought no hand

    To heal his wounds, nor anyone to ask after him;

  58. والمستبيحِ عُصارةً من ذهنِهِ

    يغذو الألوفَ بها ، ويُحسبُ واحدا

    And the one freely offering the essence of his mind,

    Nourishing thousands with it, yet counted as one.

  59. قل للمعلم راجياً، لا راشداً

    كن للشبيبةِ في المزالقِ راشدا

    Tell the teacher, as a petitioner, not a guide:

    Be youth's guide amid the pitfalls.

  60. يا خالقَ الأجيالِ أبدِِعْ خَلْقَها

    وتَوَّق بالإبداع جيلاً ناقدا

    O creator of generations, perfect their creation,

    And guard yourself through excellence against a critical generation.

  61. سيقولُ عهدٌ مقبلُ عن حاضرٍ

    نُشوى عليه : لُعنتَ عهداً بائدا

    An age to come will say of the present,

    On which we are roasted: “Cursed be you, bygone age!”

  62. ولسوفَ يبرأ عاقبٌ عن أهلهِ

    ولسوفَ يَتَّهِمُ البنونَ الوالدا

    And surely a successor will disown his people,

    And surely sons will accuse the father.

  63. قل للشبيبة حينَ يعصِفُ عاصف

    ألا يَظلُّوا كالنسيمِ رواكدا

    Tell the young, when a tempest rages,

    Not to remain still as the breeze;

  64. وإذا اغتَلَتْ فينا مراجلُ نقمةٍ

    ألا يكونوا زمهريراً باردا

    And when cauldrons of wrath boil within us,

    Not to become a bitter, icy chill.

  65. هيِّئ لنا نشءاً كما انصَبَّ الحيا

    لُطفاً ، ونشءاَ كالزلازل راعدا

    Prepare for us a generation like rain pouring down

    Gently, and one thundering like earthquakes.

  66. فلقد رأيتُ اللهَ يخلُق رحمةً

    مَلَكاً ، ويخلُقُ للتمردِ ماردا

    For I have seen God create, out of mercy,

    An angel, and for rebellion a demon.

  67. ومحمداً ما إنْ أهابَ بجيشهِ

    يطأ البلادَ روابياً و فدافدا

    And Muhammad would never have summoned his army

    To tread the land, its hills and open wastes,

  68. ويكُبُّ جباراً ، ويُعلي مُدقعاً

    ويُنيرُ خابطةً ، ويُنهضُ راقدا

    And topple a tyrant, and raise up the destitute,

    And enlighten a groping soul, and rouse a sleeper,

  69. لو لم يعبّئ للقيادةِ ثائِراً

    حَنِقأً على نُظُمٍٍ بَلينَ وحاردا

    Had he not mustered a rebel for leadership,

    Enraged and indignant at worn-out systems.

  70. ما إن يروحُ مع الضعيف مُطاوعاً

    من لا يروحُ على القويِّ معاندا

    No one stands in willing support of the weak

    Who will not stand in defiance of the strong.

  71. وأذلُّ خلقِ اللهِ في بَلَدٍ طغت

    فيه الرزايا من يكونُ محايدا

    And God's most abject creature in a land overwhelmed

    By calamities is the one who stays neutral.

  72. نشءٌ يقوِّمُ من زمانٍ فاسدٍ

    لا كالزمانِ يكونُ خَلْقاً فاسدا

    A generation that sets a corrupt age right,

    Not one that, like the age, becomes corrupt.

  73. عُلِّمْتُمُ فُرْضَ الحسابِ فأنتُمُ

    أدرى بِهنَّ فوائداً وعوائدا

    You were taught the shares of reckoning, so you

    Know best their benefits and returns.

  74. ما إن تُعجِّلُ جيلٍ ناقصاً

    إلاّ تحمَّلَ من عناءِ زائدا

    Never do you rush an incomplete generation forth

    Without its bearing an added burden of suffering.

  75. أطلِقْ يدَ التحليل في تاريخهم

    حراً ، وفكَّ من العِقال أوابدا

    Unleash the hand of analysis in their history,

    Freely, and loose wild creatures from their tether.

  76. لابُدَّ من فَهم الحياةِ مَعايباً

    ومفاخِراً ، ولذائذاً ، وشدائدا

    Life must be understood in its flaws,

    Its glories, pleasures, and hardships,

  77. جنباً إلى جنبٍ يُتمِّمُ بعضها

    بعضاً كما انتظَم الجُمانُ فرائدا

    Side by side, each completing

    The other, like pearls strung as separate gems.

  78. علِّمْهُ حُبَّ الثائرين من الورى

    طُرّاً ، وحُبَّ المخلصينَ عقائدا

    Teach him to love the rebels among humankind,

    All of them, and those sincere in their beliefs.

  79. واجْلُ الشٌّعوبَ كرائماً لا تَنتَقِصْ

    شعباً ، ولا تَقحَمْ عليه شواهدا

    Present the peoples as noble; do not belittle

    A people, nor force evidence against it.

  80. واجلُبْ له أمسٍ البعيدَ مَراجِعاً

    وألِحْ له أمسِ القريبَ مساندا

    And bring him the distant past as references,

    And reveal the recent past to him as support.

  81. أرِه لثورته عِظامَ جماجمٍ

    وابعَثْ له زنداً أطنَّ وساعدا

    Show him, for his revolution, the bones of skulls,

    And summon for him a severed wrist and forearm.

  82. وإذا تقصَّاكَ الدليلُ مسائلاً

    عن أيّ شيءٍ أعقَبَتْ ومناشدا

    And if the evidence presses you, questioning

    What it brought about, and demanding an answer,

  83. فابعثْ له الاشباحَ يشهدْ عندَها

    ما يستفِّز مًطالعاً ومُشاهدا

    Summon the ghosts for him, that he may witness there

    What stirs the reader and eyewitness.

  84. يشهدْ خيالاً عارياً ومُجَوَّعاً

    من أهلهم ومُضايقاً ومُطارَدا

    Let him see a naked, starved phantom

    From their people, harassed and hunted.

  85. أصِلحْ بنهجِك منهجاً مُستعبداً

    صُنعَ الغريبِ ، على الثقافةِ حاقدا

    Reform, through your approach, an enslaved curriculum,

    A foreigner's work, hostile to culture.

  86. قالوا : قواعدُ يبتنيها غاضبٌ

    وسْطَ العراق على الكرامةِ قاعدا

    They said: bases an angry man builds

    Amid Iraq, squatting upon dignity,

  87. تحتلُّ منه مشارفاً ومَناهلاً

    وتَسدُّ منه مسالكاً و منافذا

    Occupying its heights and watering places,

    And blocking its pathways and exits;

  88. ساقَتْ جُيوشَ الموبقاتِ حواشداً

    للرافدين مع الجيوشِ حواشدا

    They brought massed armies of deadly vices

    To the Two Rivers, massed alongside the armies.

  89. ما كان أهونَ خطبَهُ مستعمراً

    لو لم يُقِمْ وسْط العقولِ قواعد

    How much lighter his menace as a colonizer would have been,

    Had he not established bases within minds!