كَمْ ذا أُجمجمُ داءً كاد يقتلني

والداءُ أَقْتَلَه ما كان محتجبا

How much disease nearly killed me

Yet I kill the disease though it wasn't hidden

الرزءُ أَعظمُ مِنْ صبرٍ يهوِّنه

هيهاتَ لست تراني فيه محتسبا

Grief is greater than patience that makes it easy

Never shall you see me being patient in it

أَعالمٌ أَنتَ من أَبكي وَأَندبُه

فإِنني أَندبُ الإِسلامَ والعربا

You are signs for whom I weep and wail

For I bewail Islam and the Arabs

يحقُّ للعينِ أَنْ تبيضَّ من حَزَنٍ

إِذا قضتْ من لُباناتِ البكا أَربا

It is fitting for the eye to turn white from sorrow

When it completes a tenth of the tear's places

بَيْنا نؤملُ من مجهودِ أُمَّتِنا

حسنَ المصيرِ لنا إِذْ ساءَ منقلبا

While we hope for the good ending

Of our exhausted nation though the result was bad

ملَّ المقام بأَرضٍ ما نزالُ بها

نكابدُ الهونَ والأَحداثَ والنوبا

We stayed in a land that we still inhabit

Enduring humiliation, misfortunes and troubles

قمْ فابغني سلَّماً أَبغى النجاةَ به

إِلى السمواتِ أَو تحت الثرى سربا

Arise and build me a ladder to salvation

To the heavens or beneath the earth a burrow

إِيهٍ فتى العُربِ من (قيسٍ) وَمن (يمنٍ)

أَما نمى لَكَ عَمّا نَحْنُ فيه نَبا

Oh youth of Arabs, of Kais and Yaman

Has what we are in not matured for you a sprout

إِنّا من المضحكِ المبكي عَلَى مضضٍ

في كل يومٍ نرى من شأْنِهِ عجبا

We laugh and cry painfully everyday

Seeing in its affair a strange wonder

بفضلِه وَبفضلِ العاملين به

لقد جُعِلْنا مكانَ الهامةِ الذنبا

By His grace and the grace of those who work by it

We were made instead of the forehead, the tail

"بني أبي؛ وَعساكمْ تنذرون دمي"

إِذا أَمطتُ لكم عن أَمرِكم حجبا

"My sons; I implore you warn me of my blood"

If I uncover for you the veil of your affair

ما سَوَّلَتْ لكمُ النفسُ الخبيثةُ إِذْ؟

وَأدتمُ للعلى أُماً زكتْ وَأَبا

What has the wicked soul suggested to you

And you both did the most virtuous mother and father wrong

ذوقوا وَبالَ الذي أيديكمُ كسبتْ

كذاك كلُّ امرئٍ رَهْنٌ بما كسبا

Taste the torment that your hands have earned

So is everyone hostage to what they have earned

دَعْ عَنْكَ هذا وَخذْ فيما شَرَعْتَ به

فربَّما قد سعى الواشي به خببا

Leave this be and continue what you have started

Perhaps the slanderer has ruined it with lies

كم حَرَّفَ القولَ بَغْياً عن مواضِعه

وَجَدَّ يَبْني عَلَى حَبّاه قُببا

How much has the words been distorted with malice

And he built on his love edifices and structures

وَربَّ نضوِ أَسىً فاضتْ مدامعُهُ

فاهتزَّ نبتُ الأسى في صدرِه وَربا

And many a misery of sorrow overflowed their tears

So the plants of misery stirred in their chests and quaked

قد لوَّحَ الهمُّ ضاحي وَجههِ فإِذا

رأَيته خلته بالهمِّ منتقبا

Worry has brandished its face so when you see him

Deem him clad in worry without cloak

أَنشا يقول وَفجرُ العيدِ منتشرٌ

قولاً يشبُّ بقلبِ الواجدِ اللهبا

He recited saying and dawn was smiling

Speech that ignites the flame in the heart of the passionate

كنّا نكبّر تنويهاً بعزتِنا

فما نقولُ؟ وَمِنّا العزُّ قد سُلبا

We used to exclaim glorifying our might

What do we say? Might has been snatched from us

قمْ فارفعِ الصوتَ بالتكبيرِ إِنَّ به

معنى النعيِّ إِذا كبَّرتَ منتحبا

Arise and raise your voice proclaiming God's greatness

For in it is the meaning of wailing if you wail grievously