1. No wonder youth's exuberance ebbs away,
As moons and branches grace the litters’ sway.

2. My joy has turned to sadness after them,
And in my heart their parting sorrow weighs.

3. O friend, don't mention ruby mines to me,
Nor places I've no right to eulogize.

4. No bond links me to lands I've never known.
Not home nor love confer felicities.

5. Without the bouncing howdahs, camel-backs
Would not have wearied me in Birna's wastes;

6. Without the fleeing deer I'd never asked
If fawns had lost their patience and made haste.

7. Why mention to me Hama's ringdoves when
The arts I knew have vanished and decayed?

8. The Nile rekindles in me longing for
Barada's coolness - but its thirst's unquenched.

9. By Heaven, what a flood of tears and pain
Poured Jereer's neighbor down in agony!

10. And standing by the Pyramids he sighed:
"Labana's only where sweet Lebanon is found."

11. O race-course nobility, your fame
Still courses on, outstripping envious eyes.

12. Embroidered lines were fashioned for your sake,
Riads all blooming in a flowery paradise.

13. Waadi Ashqar's breeze breathes perfume, spending
The roses' scent when petalled blooms disperse.

14. Still Thawra's waters sparkle, and above
You branches sway, bowed down with flocks of birds.

15. May your gentility persist, Banas,
Till every bending palm-tree's watered well.

16. Those gardens where you look round, you will see
Some beauteous palace with its nymphs and pages.

17. They tempt you there to revels of delight:
To sell one's life for them would be no loss.

18. Cool shade, chill water, plenteous and pure,
And lofty palaces and blooming trees.