1. Is it lightning that flashes or the lightning of Damascus?
Torrents of tears, like dark downpours, have fallen

2. May God protect the cherished times
That have passed in the blossoming gardens of Ghouta

3. The night is saddled with the radiant moon
Flowers smile, arrange themselves, and scent the air

4. Roses like rubies in their settings
Graceful gems of diamond clarity

5. Joy is everywhere, on all sides
With bulbuls singing sweet melodies

6. Water cascades like two braids, channeled
To irrigate the peaceful, tranquil meadows

7. Whenever you glimpse a fetching eye
Behind those batting lashes lies a slender sword

8. Bewitching in his beauty, he has stolen my heart -
Can one see a spear concealed in a slender form?

9. There is a doe-eyed gazelle who freely roams
Small wonder that he captivates the chestnut mares

10. The crescent moon sits atop his brow
His rosy lips conceal old wine

11. How often has he disappointed with empty vows?
One who breaks vows is a brother to sins

12. How often have I concealed the embers of my torment?
Content, if he would gift me even a phantom of a dream

13. I pretended that metaphors were truth
As wakeful visions mimic dreams

14. I hoped he would cure my sickness - how often
Has a doctor's error exacerbated pain?

15. O you who left though I was true, come back, for time
Can erase the radiance of days

16. Be gentle, show me mercy, let your words
Delight me like wine in a sparkling cup

17. Have pity, for how often have I wept for you
My laments between the folds of night, like a dove's cooing

18. O you who laughed though I cried from your disdain
And turned from my passion and my pain

19. Have mercy, for love is a womb - the wise have said
That love is the most compassionate womb

20. Did you not know, O doe-eyed gazelle, that I have
Glory which the flowers in their bloom ensure

21. I have a sword, like the Fatimid swords, white-bladed,
With a vast guard, unwavering in the fight

22. If you forget my lineage and my uncles
And the pride in uncles and paternal kin

23. The midday sun is the glory of my people - so let
The doubter be watered by its heat, the denier taste its flame

24. A people who, when hope was slim, overwhelmed it
With kindness and gifts, and every favor

25. Honored by the sandal of their supreme ancestor
And above the hearts of messengers, he is sublime

26. Remember, amidst them, the father of two sciences
Vast in knowledge, a treasury of inspiration

27. He was my provision when the hand of the Guide turned
And coursed through the sea of sublime favors

28. After him, the captor of hearts, the doe-eyed youth
Shaykh of men, subduer of the stubborn soul

29. How often has the noble Syria circled, with his banners
And standards, its sanctums and shrines?

30. A lineage authored by the Trustee, and Khalid -
Vanquishers of those worshipping idols

31. And I am the purest glory, from their branch,
Along with the chastity of those high-minded bones

32. An Arab, whose lineage drinks from Hashimite rivers
And pitched its honor at the summit, a high camp

33. With the light of my soul I follow the path of Muhammad
And keep the covenant with my Caliph and Imam

34. I have never been lofty, turning from the destitute
Of my people - though some seek only rank and riches

35. And I see the turning from baseness, though the necks
Of those violating pacts and covenants attack me

36. I block the unjust tyrant, though his arrows
Fly towards me as the archer desires

37. And it pleases me to keep faith, though the betrayer
Of faithfulness - it is said - is of cursed seed

38. Perhaps some vile person denied me, forgetting
That the noble know my worth and station

39. Not all the lofty are truly exalted - Time places
A man above the throng then below the dust

40. The matter is confused by one in love with the world, who
Does not know the noble ones from the common throng