1. Allah gave me a life of contentment in Ma'arra which has passed
As told by the smile of lightning when it flashed

2. And the prime of my youth I spent sleeping
In the land of Hunduwiyin in that expanse

3. I would blame, if I saw the door of its paradise
I would not have been once forbidding but rather enticing

4. And if the eye of Ma'arrath saw its clarity
You would become appeased from the anger of blame

5. Describe to me eyes overflowing with springs
I will show you eyes overflowing with tears

6. And begin not with grapes so my ribs pain
I fear longing will shatter me to pieces

7. And flow not the mention of its flowing river and the like
My Lord sent rain so it surged and calmed

8. So its pistachio smiles at the smile of its lips
Laughing at lightning which lit up Thul Asa

9. And its castle seemed to me, though its people appeared
Taller than Suhayd standing over it, broader

10. And the eye of Zurayq looks to its water angrily
Did you not see the blue hue of the water, white

11. And how sweet are the few sips for the thirsty one
Even if it tastes bitter to one who passes indifferent

12. And my longing for the lights of Yusha's scene
Is the longing of one whose expanse narrowed

13. And if I knew the valley of Saint Simeon's monastery for an hour
I would pour out a lifetime's contentment

14. And oh walker in the Persian King's kingdom on foot
You were fortunate so be not indifferent to the Persian King's kingdom

15. Indeed my time at Hirmas has been long and its water
When it flows is like an unsheathed red sword

16. Like the wristbands of Khawd whose blood colored them
As it waved in silken garments and unraveled

17. So Hirmas is awe-inspiring if it foams turbulently
With this and cutting off the road it contends

18. It narrates wine, far from it, for this is lawful
A pure drink, permitted for worship by the Most Pleased

19. When the morning breeze polishes its surface
It comes to stroke a gilded and embroidered robe

20. On its banks are sand dunes or rather brides
Who intend to scatter pearls and shake them off

21. And a meadow whose clouds this morning left fragrant
With its violets telling of the purplish red earth

22. And a languishing brunette adorned with a brunette
And a languishing blonde adorned with a blonde

23. The colors of flowers and the coquettish eyes of narcissus
A wanton whose eyelids refused to blink

24. And the frames of slender, embracing branches
So the scattered string of flowers adorned it

25. And clematis split open its garment like birthmarks
Upon it are clothes not to be removed for blood

26. What is the bend, the foot, the slope, the grove, the meadow
And what is the pasture at Ma'arra, what is joy?

27. By God, I have favored no land above it
Other than what Allah has favored and approved

28. It has news of its fragrance so it is a beginning
Its elevation was not brought down in my view

29. And it was not built between Euphrates and Jalliq in vain
But rather this was for a purpose intended

30. Houses that were square in my childhood
But fate took me away from them and I departed

31. Pastures of Aram, plains of Jirrah
Playing grounds of gazelles, places of contentment

32. So to Allah belong those expanses and their summits
And to Allah belongs a life elsewhere that has passed

33. And nothing was its replacement to my contentment
Except that fate persistently ruins

34. He decided it for another and tested me with love of it
So praise to Him for what He tested me with and decided

35. And whoever sees the world as it is, its people
Sees contentment like discontent, and discontent like contentment

36. Peace upon the palaces' people and inhabitants
And a future of good condition with which it has passed