1. O Damascus, the inspired and bookish,
And the green Ghouta, and the prayer niche,

2. It is not domes that I saw, but rather,
A will that rebelled, so domes rose high.

3. With your spirit, kiss its land through the ages,
For the sublime resided in pebbles and dust.

4. And descend upon Barada clapping and laughing joyfully,
Begging saplings and grass to forgive it.

5. A spirit peered from the sky one evening,
And saw the beauty here, so it yearned and faded away,

6. It described and healed, until its rivulets
Were about to pour from ecstasy overwhelming it.

7. Nay, but tears the maidens of heaven shed
Yearningly, unable to hold them back.

8. O Barada, I remembered you to the thirsty, so they drank their fill,
And the pious drank you in willingly.

9. The ages passed you by without corrupting you,
While how many times did time decay and fade.

10. With my father and mother as pillows in the wilderness,
It awakened ambitions and desires.

11. When it lodged in Maysaloon, its plateaus sighed
And its fragrances breathed out perfumes.

12. And tales of it came to the stars, so they scrambled
To stand guard over it as veiled watchwomen.

13. Joseph was not one, but a procession,
For light, cascading into the suns until hidden.

14. This one whom the soil yearned for beneath the sod,
Lest he see the faces of strangers in death.

15. And if life's fertility comes through glorious deeds,
He sees noble death as the right course.

16. I take pride in the lad, loving him,
Who craves life with hardship and tribulation,

17. And gives off scent whenever grief tightens
Its hands to wrench at his tossing heart,

18. And pours forth water - if he inclines toward it, a flood,
And if night wraps it, a shooting star bursts forth.

19. And when storms veil the face of the sky,
He disputes with storms, supplying reasons for the sky.

20. And if the castle of hopes is shattered,
He builds a new hope from hopes dashed.

21. So the son of stars - every horizon is his horizon,
And the son of afflictions - he does not lack for tests.

22. How strange are my people, with the enemy at their gate,
Content with diversion and frivolity!

23. Their swords shirked from crushing him
At a time when victory was near for them.

24. They left the sword for rhetoric, on the pretext
"O sword, would that you had not found a sheath!"

25. O homeland of Arabism, your world is a jungle
Crammed with wild beasts and creatures of prey.

26. So don them the water of iron as pummeling hammers,
And make your tongue a claw or fang.

27. The law of the jungle prevails in jungles -
Leave off complaining and rebuke.

28. This is the life you loved,
And made others drink its love in cups.

29. You laughed with its dreams and cried in
Its sorrows, and drank the treacherous wine with it.

30. Your soul went astray in the mirages, and misled them -
What you thought was water turned out a mirage.

31. And you looked on as the predators tore its heart,
So you saw every sweetness turn bitter.

32. The oppressor willed its ruin - and so people
See only desolation at its end.

33. A world whose yesterday shone in its time,
Bringing lineages and accounts together.

34. The luster of revelation spread from its horizons
Enveloping eras and inundating epochs.

35. True is what its walls elevated,
And good what adorned its gates.

36. Question history - is there in its book
Glory equal to its most wondrous glory?

37. Civilizations have withered and nations vanished,
Yet the glory of Umayyah remains unblemished.

38. Yesterday was its, and tomorrow will still be its -
The world turns to it full of admiration.

39. You sang of migration and the barren valley before -
Will you not sing of the flowering garden?

40. Its nights have shown you kindness,
So forget the nights of alienation and torment.

41. Spread your wings - for the sky is luminous,
And fill your cup - for you have found your drink.

42. For the rapture of one like you the nightingales were created,
And for the like of it God created the singing bulboul.

43. Would that the gardens lend me their colors
That I may fashion from them a speech for the president.

44. And say that I cannot thank him enough -
As the eloquence of fingers cannot gather clouds.

45. I complain to myself of incapacity, and it complains
Like me, then falls silent, perplexed for an answer.

46. For I saw the sea when I saw it,
And I stood there, my sight troubled and in awe.

47. The pillar of Syria and rescuer of its harm -
your hands created youth out of old men.

48. And nightingales that once lamented captive
You set free over their nests in droves.

49. O you of immaculate nature, like dew,
Had you not been human, you would have been a cloud.

50. The hope of the youth lies in your hands as a trust -
So teach them good morals and etiquette.

51. For ignorance, wherever it is found, is a punishment,
And knowledge, wherever it is found, is a reward.

52. Oh woe to my soul, how the pangs pursue me
And shake my heart and nerves.

53. I left loved ones beyond the sea yesterday,
And tomorrow I will bid farewell to loved ones here.