1. O soothing spirit, O alluring body
O daughter of "Beirut", O ode of the country

2. O cloud of poetry flowing on the moon
O smile of the lips exposing the teeth

3. O awe of the sea in the eyes, serene
O rapture of the wrapped mountain in the arm

4. O a raindrop fallen from the buds of dawn
From the "cedars" of Lebanon, the rustling shadows are dewy

5. O God's plant in the highest of His manifestations
I believed in God, why was He not born nor gave birth

6. O curl of the cheek placed on it but did not fall
No eye has seen the like adorned with a curl

7. From it emerges a face of whatever is tolerable
And rests on a chest of whatever is compliant

8. O essence of gentleness, O meaning too narrow for words
So the lips toss it out like foam

9. I seek refuge for your face should I suffer from its softness
And the abundance of your beauty if it wanes to an echo

10. Nor is it fitting for eyelids I unfold
Over your beauty to be folded on drowsiness

11. A hand I wiped my eyes with to close them
To passion, and my other hand on my chest

12. I turned away from thirst some water I sipped
Oh, if only I had not thirsted nor wanted

13. My friends said, and the fire of love is consuming
From my madness, is this the face of one composed?

14. I did not know which to mention, “Beirut” with either
You, or my agony on the Sunday night

15. The pavement was crowded with groups of dalliance and vanity
My heart with the sigh of a hunter, and was not sated

16. With the fulfilling of a promise, and the waiting
For a promise, and where is she who fulfilled and did not promise?

17. The calmness of youth in your chest is more delectable
And violent than what is given to one who strives

18. Two treasures of the delights of life, both lessened
By the plenty of dew, extravagance in the garb of thrift

19. They said he was preoccupied from family and children
So her breasts said: No one preoccupied him but someone

20. Other than my two suckling babies of tender sweetness
Held hostage to shackles out of envy

21. I reviewed myself for what youth left for it
And what was left of its traces in my hands

22. So how bitter and harsh what I came out with
If not for the remnants of a heart kindled in me

23. The affection of love has passed. And my day has come
Paving my wilderness with a beginning for my tomorrow