1. يَا عِبْرَةَ الدَّهْرِ جَاوَزْتِ المَدَى فِينَا

    حَتَّى لَيَأْنَفُ أَنْ نَنْعَاهُ مَاضِينَا

    O lesson of Time, you have exceeded all bounds with us,

    Until even our past disdains to have us mourn it.

  2. فَالسَّهْلُ قَدْ دُفِنَتْ فِيهِ مَعَاقِلُنَا

    وَالبَحْرُ قَدْ فُقِدَتْ فِيهِ جَوَارِينَا

    For our strongholds lie buried in the plain,

    And our ships have been lost in the sea.

  3. وَانْثَلَّ مِنْ عِزِّنَا مَا عَزَّ مَطْلَبُهُ

    وَانْدَكَّ مِنْ مَجْدِنَا مَا شَادَ بَانِينَا

    What was hard to attain of our might has crumbled,

    And what our builder raised of our glory has been shattered.

  4. وَعُدَّ ذَنْباً عَلَيْنَا مَا يُشَرِّفُنَا

    وَعُدَّ رَفْعاً لَنَا مَا بَاتَ يُدْنِينَا

    What honors us has been counted a sin against us,

    And what has come to lower us is counted as raising us.

  5. فَازَ القَوِيُّ عَلَيْنَا فِي تَضَاؤُلِنَا

    وَالحَقُّ أَعْلَى وَلَكِنْ لَيْسَ يُغْنِينَا

    The strong prevailed over us as we dwindled,

    And right is higher, yet it does not avail us.

  6. لا فَخْرَ أَنْ يَغْلِبَ الأَقْوَى مُنَاضِلَهُ

    بَلْ أَنْ يَدِينَ ضَعِيفٌ مِثْلَمَا دِينَا

    There is no glory in the stronger defeating his adversary,

    But in a weak man's submitting as we were made to submit.

  7. يَا دَهْرُ غِنْ كُنْتَ لَمْ تُمْهِلْ شَبِيبَتَنَا

    حَتَّى أَدَلْتَ انْحِطَاطاً مِنْ مَعَالِينَا

    O Time, if you gave our youth no respite,

    Until you gave decline the upper hand over our heights,

  8. فَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ مَرَبٍّ لِلأُولَى جَهِلُوا

    كَجَهْلِنَا أَنَّ تَرْكَ الحَزْمِ يُشْقِينَا

    Then you are the best teacher of those who did not know,

    As we did not, that forsaking resolve brings us misery.

  9. فَزِدْ مَصَائِبَنَا حَتَّى تُنَبِّهَنَا

    تَكُنْ حَيَاةً لَنَا مِنْ حَيْثُ تُرْدِينَا

    So increase our calamities until you awaken us:

    You will be life to us in the very way you destroy us.

  10. هُمُ سَقَوا بِدَمِ الأَكْبَادِ عَزْمَهُمُ

    وَبَاتَ فِي صَدَأِ الأَغْمَادِ مَاضِينَا

    They watered their resolve with the blood of livers,

    And our keen blade lay amid the rust of scabbards.

  11. فَلَمْ تَجِئْهُمْ عُلاهُمْ مِنْ شَوَامِخِهِمْ

    وَلَمْ يَجِئْ خَفْضَنَا مِنْ خَفْضِ وَادِينَا

    Their eminence did not come from their towering peaks,

    Nor did our abasement come from our valley's low ground.

  12. كَانَتْ عَمَالَتَنَا الدُّنْيَا بِأَجْمَعِهَا

    وَالقَوْلُ وَالفِعْلُ فِي الأَقْطَارِ مَاشِينَا

    The whole world was our province,

    And our word and deed marched through the lands.

  13. إِذَا الَّتِي أَرْضَعَتَْا ذِئْبَةٌ فَغَدَتْ

    رُومَا تَصَدَّتْ تُبَارِينَا فَتَيرينَا

    When she whom a she-wolf had suckled, and who had become

    Rome, rose to rival us and cut us down,

  14. حَتَّى رَمَتْنَا بِدَاهِي الظُّفْرِ طَاغِيَةٍ

    فَتَى دَهَاءٍ وَبَأْسٍ جَاءَ يُفْنِينا

    Until she hurled at us a tyrant with a fearsome claw,

    A young man of cunning and might who came to annihilate us,

  15. فِي فِتْيَةٍ مِنْ بَنِي الرُّومَانِ قَدْ أَلِفُوا

    نَارَ الوَغَى فَحَكَوْا فِيهَا الشَّيَاطِينَا

    Among young men of the Romans who had grown accustomed

    To the fire of battle, and in it resembled devils.

  16. أَرْدَوْا عَسَاكِرَنَا أَخْلَوْا دَسَاكِرَنَا

    هَدُّوا مَنَائِرَنَا طَاغِينَ بَاغِينَا

    They slew our armies and emptied our settlements,

    They pulled down our towers, tyrannical aggressors.

  17. وَلَمْ يَكُنْ جُنْدُنَا إِلاَّ قَسَاوِرَة

    أَبْلَوْا بَلاءَ الصَّنَادِيدِ الأَشَدِّينَا

    And our troops were nothing but lions,

    Who fought with the valor of the mightiest champions.

  18. لَكِنَّ صَرْفاً مِنَ المَقْدُورِ غَالَبَهُمْ

    فَمَا نَجَا مِنْهُمُ غَيْرُ الأَقَلِّينَا

    But a turn of fate overcame them,

    So none but the very few among them survived.

  19. مَا بَالُنَا بَعْدَ أَنْ دُكَّتْ مَدِينَتُنَا

    وَامْتَدَّ حُكْمُ الأَعَادِي فِي نَوَاحِينَا

    What became of us after our city was razed,

    And the rule of enemies spread through our lands?

  20. صِرْنَا حَيَارَى سُكَارَى مِنْ تَخَاذُلِنَا

    وَأَسْعَفَتْهُمْ يَدَانَا فِي تَلاشِينَا

    We became bewildered, drunk with our mutual abandonment,

    And our two hands aided them in our dissolution.

  21. وَأَصْبَحَتْ دَارُنَا وَالكَوْنُ تَابِعُهَا

    مَثْوىً لَهُمْ وَمَوَالِيهِمْ مَوَالِينَا

    And our home, with the world following it, became

    A dwelling for them, and their clients became our masters.

  22. تَاللهِ مَا غَلَبُونَا حَيْثُ بَاسِلُنَا

    قَضَى قَتِيلاً وَنَالُوا مِنْ نَوَاصِينَا

    By God, they did not conquer us when our brave warrior

    Fell slain and they seized our forelocks.

  23. لَكِنَّهُمْ غَلَبُونَا حِينَ مَلَّكَهُمْ

    أَزِمَّةَ الأَمْرِ شَادِينَا وَرَاضِينَا

    But they conquered us when they were handed

    The reins of power by our singer and our complacent one.

  24. فَمَا هُمُ بِأَعَادِينَا خَلائِقُنَا

    هِيَ الَّتِي أَصْبَحَتْ أَعْدَى أَعَادِينَا

    They, then, are not our enemies; our own character traits

    Are what have become the fiercest of our enemies.

  25. أَليَوْمَ رُومَا هِيَ الدُّنْيَا وَصَوْلَتُهَا

    تُنَافِسُ الأَرْضَ تَوْطِيداً وَتَمْكِينَا

    Today Rome is the world, and her might

    Rivals the earth in firmness and strength.

  26. وَمَا أَثِينَةُ إِلاَّ مَعْقِلٌ خَرِبٌ

    نُجِيلُ أَصْفَادَنَا فِيهِ مُذَالِينَا

    And Athens is nothing but a ruined stronghold,

    Where we drag our shackles, humiliated.