1. What voice did I greet yesterday, O Paris
The abode of science and scholars

2. Who can it be that old age adorned
With the wisdom of grey hair in the spring of youth

3. That dark skinned man who dazzled Beirut
Preaching eloquently from the pulpit

4. And unveiled the manners of the Arabs
With the generosity of the ancestors and the news

5. With a tongue not accustomed before to bow
Except to his folk out of dignity

6. O register of immortality, make way
For his name among the virtuous

7. And show the ages that mention
Is a life adorned by epochs

8. That is the voice of Ibn Batros we knew
By how it stirred the echoes

9. A melody makes light of you
That was not for any but the loyal

10. A star you brought out, O Egypt
So overlay it with your shining star

11. And place it where the sleepless
Eyes of travelers seek in the darkness

12. How much below the orient’s egg
Is the anger of a freeman and how much is his ordeal

13. How many stands where the kindness
Of truth shook with the white argument

14. O son of glories, you took on
Great burdens and glory has burdens

15. And you showed people the righteousness of relatives
And the view of the noble among the generous

16. So listen to what is said around you
Describing this day’s kinds of praise

17. That the best praise is a flower
Plucked by the ears of the capable