1. I swear by the summer resort and the recreation,
And the bliss of the bending palm trees,

2. And the assembly where arms gently sway,
That the youth of Dhad without dispute,

3. Isu'af, how sweet you are with healing,
And good fortune, and abundance, and prosperity,

4. Our words openly profess,
That if you turn away haughtily,

5. O morning, greet me and be calm and lasting,
Cast into ears what enchants,

6. Do not wonder, O people, I am no hypocrite,
Your lips are like the giant's grip,

7. After what was most bitter of my wailing,
In a land where living is with perfidy,

8. In it, upon the eloquent one, a gag,
By God, were it not for Beirut,

9. And that its professor is al-Khuri,
And my fear that a demon would chime in,

10. Saying to me, "You silent one,
You did not come to us, you did not come, you did not come."

11. Beirut is the lair of merit and refinement,
And the Sheikh in Beirut is like a bulbul,

12. And your right, had my share missed me,
Of his merit, would have missed reproaching me,

13. And I would not have been, by God, the critic,
And torrents preceded by sprinkles,

14. Is the Dhad people's honoring of the professor,
It is not of verbosity or of escape,

15. Nay, nor of the sputterings of one who sputters,
But the duty of the excellent upon the most excellent,

16. His signs, his signs, his signs,
In poetry and authorship clear proofs,

17. So inspire for him passions, then passions,
For merit, if pointers do not point.

18. For there are not ever in us, quavers.