1. يا ديرَ يا قوتٍ بِالرَهابينِ

    بِفَضلِ ما جاءَ في الشَعانينِ

    O monastery of Yaqut, by the monks,

    By the grace of what came on Palm Sunday,

  2. بِكُلِّ تَقديسَةٍ يُرَدِّدُها

    فيكَ النَصاري عَلى البَراشينِ

    By every prayer of consecration repeated

    Within you by Christians over the communion loaves,

  3. بِحَقِّ ما جاءَ مِن جَثالِقَةٍ

    إِلَيكَ سَعياً وَمِن مَطارينِ

    By the sanctity of the catholicoi who came

    Hastening to you, and of the metropolitans,

  4. بِدَير عيسى هل عائد زمنٌ

    مَضى بِقَلّابَةِ اشبنِ شَمعونِ

    By Isa's monastery, will that time return

    That passed in Ashbin Sham'un's cell [uncertain reading]?

  5. حَيثُ كُؤسُ المَدامِ دائِرَةٌ

    وَالبَدرُ في الأُفقِ شِبهُ عَرجونِ

    Where cups of wine went round,

    And the full moon on the horizon resembled a date-palm stalk;

  6. وَالراحُ في كَأسِها مُشَعشَةٌ

    كَالشَمسِ في بَهجَةٍ وَتَلوينِ

    And the wine, diluted in its cup,

    Was like the sun in splendor and color.

  7. يُديرُها أهيَفٌ شَمائِلُهُ

    بِلا اِرتِيابٍ أَرَقُّ مِن ديني

    A slender youth passed it round; his manners

    Were, without doubt, more delicate than my faith.

  8. كَالبَدرِ في الحُسنِ وَالغَزالَةِ في اللَح

    ظِ وَغُصنُ الأَراكِ في اللينِ

    He was like the full moon in beauty, and the gazelle in his glan-

    ce, and an arak branch in suppleness.

  9. وَنَحنُ في عُصبَةٍ شَمامِسَةٌ

    نَجري مِنَ الهَوى في مَيادينِ

    And we, among a band of deacons,

    Raced through the arenas, driven by passion.