1. God saw me one day
Weeping on earth from distress

2. So He had mercy, and Allah is most merciful
Upon the distressed and afflicted

3. And He said, “Dust is not a land
For poetry, so return to the sky"

4. And He erected over the firmament my home
And extended my dominion across space

5. So the meteors circled around my throne
And the light moved in my obedience

6. And I became such that no morning unfolds
Except by my command, nor evening

7. No wind drives the clouds
Unless above it is my banner

8. So the command among the stars is my command
Mine is the judgment over them and mine the decree

9. But I have not ceased being sad
Depressed in spirit on high

10. So God wondered how I could be miserable
In the world of revelation and joy

11. And He said, “He is still Adamic
Yearning for vineyards and tattoos

12. And He touched my soul and drew from it
My longing for wine and women

13. And He thought my affliction had ended
But He only increased my affliction

14. And my weeping grew louder
When before it was in secret

15. And my tears became rivers of fire
When before they were rivers of water

16. O troubled poet
Your stubborn disease has confused me

17. Do you wish to be a bird?
I said, “No, and no to singing"

18. Do you wish to be a star?
I answered, “No, and no to brilliance"

19. Do you seek money, I said, “No,
Accumulation was never my goal

20. Neither palaces, nor gardens
Neither armies, nor maidservants

21. And there is no sickness in me, my Lord
Nor need in me for medicine

22. Nor yearning for pubs
Nor craving for deer

23. I do not want what is for others
Be it wisdom or folly

24. But a wish for myself
Fear and shyness hide it”

25. So He said, “O strange poet
Tell me then, what is it you desire?”

26. I said, “O Lord, a summer rain
In the land of Lebanon or winter

27. For I am a stranger here
And in estrangement there is no bliss"

28. God laughed at my words
And said, “This is nonsense

29. Lebanon is a land like any land
And its people are equal to all people

30. Both my misery and my blessing are in it
As are the naked and the devout

31. So what is it you long for in it?”
I said, “That which gladdened me and saddened me

32. My soul yearns for the paths
For the boughs, for the twittering

33. For the slopes growing bare, then clothed
For the little birds and their songs

34. For the grapevines, the bucket, and the water
For the light and the air”

35. So God peered down from His sublimity
Witnessing Lebanon in the evening

36. And He said, “You are not mad
Rather, you are faithful

37. For Lebanon is not a hillock
Nor a land, but sky"