Sol 6.1

  1. نوابنا نوائب كلهم

    على لحى منتخبيهم قضوا

    Our deputies are disasters, every one.

    Over their electors' beards, they decreed

  2. ان يجعلوا الطاعة فرضا لهم

    في كل مشروع كما يعرض

    That obedience to them be made a duty

    In every bill, just as it is presented.

  3. فوطنوا النفس ايا جيرة ال

    شهبا على مكس غدا يفرض

    So steel yourselves, O neighbors of

    al-Shahba, for a tax to be imposed tomorrow,

  4. وجزية يدفعها عن يد

    كلكم المؤمن والمعرض

    And a poll tax to be paid by hand, in submission,

    By all of you, believer and dissenter alike.

  5. وسوف يمضون عهودا بها

    ركن بنا استقلالكم ينقض

    And they will ratify pacts by which

    A pillar of your independence's edifice is demolished.

  6. وسوف للتجنيد تدعون

    كالسودان والبربر لما مضوا

    And you will be summoned for conscription,

    Like the Black men and Berbers when they marched away.

  7. لا فلتة ترجى ولا فكة

    من بعد ما يستحكم المقبض

    No escape is to be hoped for, nor any release,

    Once the grip has tightened.

  8. ينهركم من خلفكم اسود

    والبربري الجلف يستنهض

    A Black man will berate you from behind,

    And the boorish Berber will goad you on.

  9. ثم تسافون إلى حيث لا

    قت رحلها لا يرحم المجهض

    Then you are [driven] to where she has

    [Cast down] her saddle; the exhausted receive no mercy.

  10. ثمت ميزانية ليس من

    تصديقها بد أبوا أو رضوا

    Then comes a budget: there is no

    Avoiding its approval, whether they refuse or consent.

  11. قد خفتت اصوات نوابكم

    وهم على مبيوعهم قد مضوا

    Your deputies' voices have grown faint,

    And they have gone through with their sale.

  12. إذ أنهم في صمم عنكم

    وإن سألتم نظرة اعرضوا

    For they are deaf to you,

    And if you ask for a glance, they turn away.

  13. وان شكوتم ضركم قيل ما

    لمن بنوا صبحا مسا قوضوا

    And if you complain of your hardship, it is said: What can be done

    For those who built at dawn and tore down at dusk?

  14. ما بالهم من بعد ما سودوا

    ابيضهم اسودهم بيضوا

    What ails them? After they blackened

    Their whitest, they whitened their blackest.

  15. جهالهم عذر لهم جهلهم

    فأيّ عذر للألى حرضوا

    Their ignorant ones have ignorance as their excuse;

    But what excuse have those who incited them?

  16. لا يعذر العاقل في صمته

    عما يشين القوم أو يخفض

    The reasonable man is not excused for his silence

    About what disgraces the people or brings them low.

  17. بل ما له عذر إذا لم يقم

    فيهم خطيبا نصحه يمحض

    Indeed, he has no excuse if he does not rise

    Among them as an orator, offering sincere counsel.

  18. من ادعى فيهم حجى فليلم

    نفسا له من جبنها منغص

    Whoever among them claims wisdom, let him blame

    His own soul, whose cowardice brings him grief.

  19. إذ كل دعوى غيرها حجة

    لا تدفع الذنب ولا ترحض

    For every other claim is evidence

    That neither wards off guilt nor washes it away.

  20. إذ كل دعوى غيرها حجة

    على فساد عرقهم ينبض

    For every other claim is evidence

    Of corruption in their throbbing vein.

  21. قد ألقوا الرق طويلا ومن

    يألف شيئا عكسه ببغض

    They have long [grown used to] bondage; and whoever

    Grows used to something regards its opposite with hatred.

  22. ما يرتجي الجاهل من مطلب

    سام بغير العلم لا يقبض

    Whatever goal the ignorant man hopes for—

    If lofty—cannot be attained without knowledge.

  23. بالعلم طرنا فوق طير السما

    ومن حضيض الذل لم ينهضوا

    Through knowledge we have flown above the birds of heaven,

    Yet from the depths of abasement they have not risen.

  24. هذا قضاء مبرم عادل

    به عليهم نائبوهم قضوا

    This is an irrevocable, just decree,

    Passed against them by their own deputies.