1. قُطعـانُ غَـدْرٍ... والشوارعُ نائمة

    والفجرُ بحرٌ... والمدينةُ عائِمةْ

    Herds of treachery... and the streets are asleep.

    And dawn is a sea... and the city is afloat.

  2. طفلٌ يشقُّ العُمْرَ صوبَ نجاته

    يمشي الهُوينَى، والخِيانةُ جاثِمةْ

    A child cuts through life toward his deliverance;

    he walks slowly, and betrayal crouches.

  3. خطُواتهُ شَمْعُ الطريقِ، يضيؤها

    وقْعُ الدُّعاءِ بصدْرِ أمٍّ صائِمةْ

    His footsteps are the road's candles, lit

    by the resonance of prayer in a fasting mother's breast.

  4. عُدْ يا حبيبي واسترِقْ صَحْوي أنا

    أَسكِنْ نُعاسَ العمرِ كفّي الهارِمةْ

    Return, my beloved, and steal my own wakefulness;

    lodge life's drowsiness in my aging palm.

  5. اُهجُرْ براءَتكَ التي طرّزتَها

    وانهَضْ لِحتفِكَ فالشَّهادةُ قادِمةْ

    Abandon your innocence, which you embroidered,

    and rise to your death, for martyrdom is coming.

  6. قُطعانُ غربانٍ ووحدَكَ صارخٌ

    ناديتَ إذْ ناديتَ عُرْبًا عاجِمةْ

    Flocks of ravens, and you alone cry out;

    when you called, you called to inarticulate Arabs.

  7. لا صوتَ إلّا ما تَمخَّضَهُ الرَّدى

    سقَطتْ عواصِمُنا وصِرتَ العاصِمةْ

    There is no voice but what death has brought forth.

    Our capitals fell, and you became the capital.

  8. فاقرأْ علينا ما تَيسَّرَ مِنْ دَمٍ

    هذي العروبةُ بالقراءةِ واهِمةْ

    So recite to us what you can of blood;

    this Arabism is deluded in its reading.

  9. سَلَّتْ سُيوفَ الشِّعرِ في صمتٍ وما

    سَلَّتْ سيوفًا للكرامةِ فاهِمةْ

    It unsheathed poetry's swords in silence, but did not

    unsheathe swords mindful of dignity.

  10. ما نحنُ إلّا أمَّةٌ في صمتِها

    نَقَضَتْ صَلاة النَّصرِ خوْفَ اللائِمةْ

    We are nothing but a nation that, in its silence,

    annulled the prayer of victory for fear of reproach.

  11. هذي البلادُ بلادُنا، مَهما عَلا

    صَوتُ الرُّعاةِ وباركتهُ السَّائِمةْ

    These lands are our lands, however high

    the shepherds' voice rises, with the grazing herd blessing it.

  12. هذي السَّماءُ سَماؤنا، ما أمطرتْ

    إلا رجالًا والرَّجولةُ حاسِمةْ

    This sky is our sky; it has never rained down

    anything but men, and manhood is decisive.

  13. عُذْرًا صغيري إذْ تلوتُكَ آيةً

    فالشعرُ ذنبٌ والقصيدةُ آثِمةْ

    Forgive me, my little one, for I recited you as a verse;

    for poetry is a sin, and the poem is sinful.

  14. نارُ الغُزاةِ لهيبُها مِنْ نِفْطِنا

    واللحمُ نيءٌ والعروبة هاضِمةْ

    The invaders' fire—its blaze comes from our oil;

    and the flesh is raw, and Arabism digests it.

  15. أنْتَ الذي أجفلتَ فينا ظُلمَنا

    كمْ ظالمٍ ألقى السؤالَ لِظالمةْ؟

    You are the one who startled our injustice within us.

    How many oppressors have put the question to a female oppressor?

  16. هَلْ في خِيامِ العُمْرِ فُرْصةُ حالمٍ

    لِنقولَ حيَّ على الحياةِ الحالمةْ؟

    Is there, in life's tents, a dreamer's chance

    for us to say, 'Come to the dreaming life'?

  17. عبَسَ الجُناةُ وكانَ سِنُّكَ ضاحكًا

    فتبسّمي يا قُدْس مالكِ واجِمةْ؟

    The perpetrators scowled, while your teeth smiled;

    so smile, O Jerusalem—why are you downcast?

  18. لا طيبَ إلّا ما تَلتْهُ نسائِمٌ

    عَبَقَتْ وريحُ الموتِ زهرٌ هائِمةْ

    There is no fragrance but what was recited by breezes

    that grew fragrant; and death's wandering wind is blossom.

  19. نَضِجَتْ ضلوعُكَ، هل صرختَ تمهّلي

    أمْ كانت النيرانُ بَرْدًا سالِمةْ؟

    Your ribs were cooked; did you cry out, 'Slow down!'

    or were the flames cool and harmless?

  20. هذا خليلُ اللّهِ في صَمتِ الّلظى

    كانَ البدايةَ، ثمَّ كنتَ الخاتِمةْ

    This is God's Friend in the silence of the blaze;

    he was the beginning, then you were the end.