1. هو نصرٌ قد جاء يَعقُبُ نَصراً

    وكذا الأفقُ نَجمَةٌ تِلوَ أخرى

    It is a victory that has come after a victory.

    And so the horizon: one star after another

  2. يَتَوالى حتى يَحينَ منَ الإش

    راقِ وقتٌ لها فتَسطعُ فَجرا

    Follows in succession, until there comes

    Its hour of radiance, and it shines forth as dawn.

  3. هكذا شأنُ كلِّ باغٍ أثيمٍ

    زَرَعَ الشَّرَّ فهو يحصُد شَرَّا

    Such is the lot of every sinful aggressor:

    He sowed evil, and so he reaps evil.

  4. كورسيكا مَوطِنُ اللُّيوثِ فتَأبى

    أن تَرى فيها لِلثَّعالب وَكرَا

    Corsica, home of lions, refuses

    To see a den for foxes within her.

  5. مثلُ حَظِّ الأفرادِ حظُّ شُعوبٍ

    فهيَ طَوراً تَشقى وتَسعدُ طَورا

    The fortunes of nations are like those of individuals:

    At times they suffer, and at times they prosper.

  6. لم يَزِدهُم على يقينٍ يَقيناً

    فَبِه قَبلَ وقعِه همُ أدرى

    It added no certainty to their certainty,

    For, before it occurred, they knew it full well.

  7. بل أتاهُم بِرايةٍ لانتِصارٍ

    طالما قد أتاهُ سِرًّا وجَهرا

    Rather, it brought them a banner of triumph

    That had often come to him, in secret and openly.

  8. وإذا البَدءُ كانَ فَتحاً مُبيناً

    فختامٌ مِن بابِ أولى وأحرى

    And if the beginning was a clear conquest,

    Then the ending is all the more surely so.

  9. ساء فالٌ لَهم فقد حَسِبوها

    لَهُمُ قَصراً لكنَ ألفوَه قبرا

    The omen was ill for them, for they had thought her

    A palace for themselves, but found it a grave.

  10. غامضٌ سِرُّ ذي الحَياةِ فما يَد

    ري الفَتى لِلحياةِ ما عاشَ سِرّاً

    The secret of this life is obscure; no

    Man, however long he lives, knows life's secret.

  11. كم مُجِدٍّ يَسيرُ سَيراً حَثيثاً

    وهوَ لِلحَتفِ والرَّدى جُرَّ جَرَّا

    How many a striver walks at a swift pace,

    While he is dragged inexorably toward death and doom.

  12. حاط فيها بِهِم منَ الأسرِ جَيشٌ

    غَرَسوا في الذِّئابِ ناباً وظُفرا

    An army hemmed them in there, taking them captive;

    They sank fang and claw into the wolves.

  13. يَمَّموها وهُم جِياعٌ ولكن

    اُطعِموا عَلقماً وصاباً وصِبرا

    They made for her, hungry, but

    Were fed colocynth, bitter sap, and aloe.

  14. لا يَضيرُ الحسناءَ يَخطُبُها فَد

    مٌ لها كانت روحُه بَعدُ مَهرا

    No harm comes to the beauty from being wooed

    By a dullard whose soul later served as her bride-price.

  15. طَلَبوا ظهرَها لَهُم مُستَقَرَّا

    فأعارَتهُم بطنَها مُستَقَرَّا

    They sought her back as their resting place;

    So she lent them her belly as their resting place.

  16. فلِهِتلِيرِهِم عَزاءً عَزاءً

    عظَّم اللهُ في انتِصاركَ أجرا

    So condolences, condolences to their Hitler!

    May God magnify your reward for your victory!

  17. حجَبوا عنهُم السَّماءَ بِجُندٍ

    مُمطِرٍ فَوقَهُم صَواعِقَ تَترى

    They screened the sky from them with a host

    Raining thunderbolts upon them, one after another.

  18. ثم سَدُّوا علَيهِمُ كُلَّ بابٍ

    لِلنَّجاةِ المُرَجَّاةِ بِرّاً وبَحرا

    Then they shut against them every gate

    Of hoped-for escape, by land and sea.

  19. وأتَوهُم كأنَّهم في سَلامٍ

    هل رأيتَ الحَمامَ أبصرَ صَقرا

    And they came upon them as though they were at peace:

    Have you seen doves when they sight a falcon?

  20. فأَسيرٌ لم يُغنِ عنه قَتيلٌ

    وقتيلٌ لم يُغنِهم عنهُ أسرى

    So no slain man sufficed in place of a captive,

    Nor did captives suffice them in place of a slain man.

  21. أحدَقوا بِهِم ونادَوا هلُمُّوا

    واعلَموا مِن هَلاَكِكُم لا مَفَرَّا

    They surrounded them and called: 'Come,

    And know there is no escape from your destruction!'

  22. هو نَصرٌ أتى يُبَرهِنُ عَمَّا

    كانَ أهلُ النُّهى تَقولُه جَهرا

    It is a victory that came to prove what

    People of understanding used to say aloud:

  23. لم يَعيشوا من فوقِها غَيرَ نَزر

    حَسِبوهُ في آخِرِ الأمرِ دَهرا

    They lived upon her only a little while,

    Which, in the end, they reckoned an age.