Sol 5.6

  1. أَتونس عندي في هواك تولّع

    وَأَنت مُنى نفس عليك تَقَطَّعُ

    O Tunisia, within me passion for your love blazes.

    And you are a soul’s desire—a soul torn apart for you.

  2. نسيتُ بك الدنيا وعيشي وراحتي

    أريد لك الحسنى وخصمك يمنعُ

    Through you I forgot the world, my life, and my rest.

    I desire the best for you, but your adversary prevents it.

  3. يريد اِنقِراض الأهل منك ليبتني

    هنا دار ملك آبد لا يزعزعُ

    He seeks the extinction of your people, so that he may build

    here an everlasting realm of rule that cannot be shaken.

  4. يُواصِل سعي اليوم بِاللَيل جاهِدا

    إِلى غايَة فيها يهيم ويَرتَعُ

    He presses on, carrying the day’s striving into the night,

    toward an end where he may wander and graze freely.

  5. بجهل بتفليس بتوجيع أنفس

    بخلق رؤوس تستَهان فتركَعُ

    Through ignorance, impoverishment, and the tormenting of souls,

    by creating leaders who are despised and therefore bow.

  6. تساوم في حق البِلاد عدوها

    وتحتال في صوغ الكَلام فتخدعُ

    They bargain with the country’s enemy over its right

    and scheme in crafting speech, and so deceive.

  7. أولئك أدواء لتونس ثبتوا

    لأعدائها أقدامهم فتوسَّعوا

    Those are maladies to Tunisia; they have planted

    their feet for her enemies, and so spread out.

  8. لَقَد أجروهم بِالقَليل لِيُسرِعوا

    بهم نحو إِلحاق فَلَم يَتَراجَعوا

    They hired them for little, so that they might hasten

    with them toward annexation, and they did not retreat.

  9. فَلا ذمة يرعونها في بِلادِهِم

    وَلا خشيَة من بَأسها يوم تفزعُ

    They observe no covenant in their country,

    nor fear its might on the day it is roused.

  10. فكم أَنت يا أم البَنين شقية

    فهم إِذ غدوا سماً بجسمك يصرعُ

    How wretched you are, O mother of sons,

    for they have become poison in your body that strikes you down.

  11. فَوَيل لهم يوم الحساب ينالهم

    قصاص وفي التاريخ أنكى وَأَفظَعُ

    Woe to them when the Day of Reckoning overtakes them

    with retribution—while history’s is more grievous and dreadful.

  12. ظللتِ تعانين الحياة مَريرَة

    تَزيد بك البَلوى وَقومك هجَّعُ

    You have gone on enduring a bitter life;

    affliction mounts upon you while your people sleep.

  13. أضاعوك واستَخذوا لسلطة معشر

    لنزف دماء الواهنين تجمعوا

    They squandered you and submitted to the power of a clique

    who gathered to drain the blood of the weak.

  14. شبابك موؤود ومجدك آفل

    ومالك منهوب وحقك ضائِعُ

    Your youth is buried alive, and your glory is setting;

    your wealth is plundered, and your right is lost.

  15. تنادين لكن من تناديه خادر

    يمر بعينيه الخيال فيجزعُ

    You call, but the one you call is numb;

    a phantom passes before his eyes, and he panics.

  16. تعوَّد حمل العسف والمقت وَالعنا

    ينام كَخالي البال وهوَ مروَّعُ

    He has grown accustomed to bearing oppression, loathing, and hardship;

    he sleeps as though carefree, though he is terrified.

  17. يقاد إِلى جهل وفقر وذلَّة

    ومحنة تجنيس تليها فجائِعُ

    He is driven into ignorance, poverty, and humiliation,

    and the ordeal of naturalization, followed by disasters.

  18. يذكَّر بالحُسنى فَيغضي مخافَة

    وَيبعَث في شر فَيَأتيه يهرعُ

    He is reminded of what is best, but lowers his gaze in fear;

    yet when summoned to evil, he comes rushing to it.

  19. لقَد ماتَ هذا الشَّعب واغتيلَ عزه

    فَأَصبَحَ لِلأَرزاء فيه تولعُ

    This people has indeed died, and its pride has been assassinated;

    calamities have therefore become enamored of it.

  20. شقينا وما منا لتونس حرمة

    فيثأر أبناء توانوا وضيعوا

    We have suffered, for none among us holds Tunisia sacred,

    so that her sons might avenge her; they have faltered and squandered.

  21. رَضينا لها بِالصَّفع وهي عليلَة

    فكنا كعضب في حشاها يقطعُ

    We consented to her being slapped while she was ill,

    so we became like a sharp sword cutting through her innards.

  22. فَيا لَيتَ شعري هل تصادف نَشأة

    تقيم لها رأساً أميل وترفعُ

    Would that I knew whether she will encounter a generation

    that sets her bowed head upright and raises it.

  23. أفق أَيُّها الشَّعبُ المهان فقد أتوا

    إِلَيكَ بتجنيس لعلك تخدعُ

    Awake, O humiliated people, for they have come

    to you with naturalization, hoping you will be deceived.

  24. وأيد لهم بالحس أنَّك ماجد

    وإن كنت في بؤس فجنسكَ أَرفعُ

    Affirm to them, from the heart, that you are noble,

    and though you live in misery, your stock is higher.

  25. ولا ترهبن فَالخَوف موت محقَّق

    يعم بَنينا شره المتطلعُ

    Do not be afraid, for fear is certain death

    whose encroaching evil engulfs our children.

  26. نهوضاً إِلى المَجدِ الَّذي شاد أهلنا

    بعزم له قلب الصَّفا يتصدعُ

    Rise toward the glory that our forebears built,

    with a resolve that would split the heart of solid rock.

  27. نشيد به لِلمجد صرحاً ممردا

    تسوخ الدراري وهو لا يتضَعضَعُ

    Let us build with it, for glory, a lofty polished edifice;

    the radiant stars sink, while it does not waver.