1. سلام البيانِ وفتيانهِ

    عليكم معاشرَ اعوانه

    Greetings from Eloquence and its young champions

    Be upon you, O company of its supporters.

  2. لأنتم مؤمَّل ملهوفه

    وأنتم مؤمنُ فزعانه

    You are indeed the hope of its anguished one,

    And the safeguard of its frightened one.

  3. ولولا بقية أمثالكم

    لضاعت بقية قحطانه

    Were it not for the few remaining men like you,

    The remnant of its Qahtan would have been lost.

  4. ففي الشرق باغٍ على حقه

    وشانٍ يغير على شانه

    For in the East is one who encroaches upon its rights,

    And a detractor who assaults its honor.

  5. أصيب البيان بما راعه

    وهز رواسخ أركانه

    Eloquence was struck by what terrified it

    And shook its deep-rooted pillars,

  6. بكل دخيلٍ على ثوبه

    تغلغلَ داخلَ قمصانه

    By every intruder upon its robe

    Who burrowed inside its shirts,

  7. فعاثَ ببهجة منثوره

    وفكَّ قلائد عِقيانه

    Then ravaged the splendor of its prose

    And unstrung the necklaces of its pure gold,

  8. واطمع باقلَ من مجده

    بإرث سلالة سحبانه

    And made Baqil covet a share of its glory

    Through inheriting from the line of its Sahban.

  9. فبات يثغثغُ في داره

    دعيٌّ المَّ بديوانه

    So, in its house, there babbled through the night

    An impostor who had entered its assembly.

  10. وحلَّ الغرابُ على روضه

    محلّ الحمامة من بانه

    And the crow settled upon its garden,

    In the dove's place upon its ban-tree.

  11. أرى الشرق يمنع عيني ترى

    أديباً عزيزاً باحضانه

    I see the East preventing my eyes from beholding

    A writer honored in its embrace.

  12. أراه يهيم بطاغوته

    ويزري بعترة لقمانه

    I see it enamored of its tyrant

    And disparaging the descendants of its Luqman,

  13. ويشقي الصحافي في ارضه

    لينعم كسرى بإيوانه

    And making the journalist wretched on its soil,

    So that Kisra may luxuriate in his vaulted hall,

  14. ويولي المشانق اعناقنا

    فدى للامير وتيجانه

    And giving our necks to the gallows

    As ransom for the prince and his crowns,

  15. ويغذي المنايا باكبادنا

    لتسلم مهجةُ سلطانه

    And feeding death with our livers

    So that its sultan's lifeblood may be spared.

  16. تعدى وصيةَ انجيله

    وخالف آية قرآنه

    It transgressed the commandment of its Gospel

    And defied the verse of its Qur'an.

  17. فهذا يضج على شيخه

    وذاك يصيح بمطرانه

    So this one clamors over his sheikh,

    And that one cries out for his bishop.

  18. هو الشرق يكرم عُماته

    ويرعى قلانس رهبانه

    Such is the East: it honors its turbans

    And cherishes the caps of its monks,

  19. ويعنى بكل فتىً آمرٍ

    ولو هو اصغر غلمانه

    And attends to every young man who commands,

    Even if he is the youngest of its boys.

  20. واما الأديبُ ففيه يذلُّ

    وقد عزَّ خارج أوطانه

    But the writer is humiliated within it,

    Though honored beyond his native lands.

  21. يروع الصحافة ان لا ترى

    فتاها كثيراً بإخوانه

    It appalls the press not to see

    Its young champion strengthened by his brothers.

  22. يموت ليسعد لبنانه

    ويحيا شقياً بلبنانه

    He dies so that his Lebanon may prosper,

    And lives wretchedly in his Lebanon.

  23. وكم ليلةٍ باتها ساهراً

    يعضُّ اليراع بأسنانه

    And how many a night he has spent awake,

    Biting the reed pen with his teeth,

  24. وذو البغي لاوٍ على ناهدٍ

    يُداعب ناضج رمانه

    While the oppressor bends over a full-breasted woman,

    Fondling his ripe pomegranates.

  25. يهون عليه تبيد الديارُ

    وتقضي لبانة شيطانه

    He cares little if the homes perish,

    So long as his devil's craving is satisfied.

  26. وذو المالِ خالٍ إلى ماله

    يقبل وجنةَ رنانه

    And the wealthy man withdraws to his money,

    Kissing the cheek of his ringing coin.

  27. وقسط الصحافة من كفهِ

    كقسطِ مؤملِ احسانه

    And the press's share from his hand

    Is like the share of one hoping for his charity.

  28. أما في البلاد اخو همةٍ

    يجرُّ العتيَّ بآذانه

    Is there no man of resolve in the land

    Who drags the insolent man by his ears,

  29. بردُّ الأديب إلى تخته

    يعيد الغبي إلى خانه

    By restoring the writer to his throne,

    And returns the fool to his inn?

  30. كفى ما شهدنا من المضحكات

    لهذا الزمان وصبيانه

    Enough of the absurdities we have witnessed

    From this age and its boys.

  31. افدوى فديتك لا تجزعي

    لبث الأديب واحزانه

    O Fadwa, may I be your ransom; do not grieve

    Over the writer's anguish and sorrows.

  32. وغني حمامة غني له

    فسجعك يمضي بأشجانه

    And sing, O dove, sing for him,

    For your cooing carries his sorrows away.

  33. وخلي الانيس بألحانه

    يسوق النفوس إلى حانه

    And let the companion, with his melodies,

    Lead souls to his tavern.

  34. فنحن بنو دولةٍ نلتقي

    كراحِ الربيعِ وريحانه

    For we, children of a realm, meet

    Like spring's wine and its basil.

  35. إلى الخلد نعلو بأحلامنا

    ندق نوافذ رضوانه

    We rise toward eternity on our dreams,

    Knocking upon the windows of its Ridwan.

  36. وهذا يطير بأشعاره

    وذاك يطير بألحانه

    And this one soars on his poems,

    And that one soars on his melodies.

  37. يميناً بديني يمين امرئٍ

    يفي للمسيح وقربانه

    I swear by my faith—the oath of a man

    Who keeps faith with Christ and his sacrifice:

  38. لو أن النبوغ له وزنه

    وفي الشرق منصب ميزانه

    If genius were given its due weight,

    And its scales had a place in the East,

  39. لكان فتاناً فتىً راجحاً

    وداس معاطس أقرانه

    He would be captivating—a young man of weight—

    And would trample the noses of his peers.

  40. ولكن للشرق يوماً يجيءُ

    فيا نفس صبراً لا بانه

    But a day will come for the East;

    So, O soul, patience until its appointed time [probable reading of the unclear ending].