1. I see myself a stranger in Damascus, though its people
Can see me, they are blind to my virtues.
١. أَراني غَريباً في دِمَشقَ وَأَهلُها
بَصيرونَ بي لَكِن عَمّوا عَن مَحاسِني
2. So it is I am lost among them, though my excellence
Is plain, as if I were a Koran to their eyes unopened.
٢. فَيا ضَيعَتي فيهِم وَفَضلِيَ ظاهِرٌ
كَأَنّي لَدَيهِم مُصحَفٌ عِندَ باطِني