أيا حسنا قد حاز كل فضيلة

ورتبته تعلو على كل رتبة

O Hasan, who has attained every virtue,

and whose rank rises above every rank.

بعثت لنا تمرا وبالهجر شبته

فكدرت منه بالنوى صفو عيشتي

You sent us dates and mingled them with estrangement,

thus clouding my life’s serenity through them with separation.

فان كان قول الزور عني ساءكم

حياتكم أحيت وجودي وصحتي

So if slander about me has distressed you,

your life has revived my being and my health.

وعيشكم لو عشت الفا ومثلها

فلا بد ان اسقى كؤوس المنية

And by your life, were I to live a thousand years and as many more,

I must still be made to drink the cups of death.

فما هذه الدنيا بدر اقامة

فما هي الا دار هم ومحنة

For this world is no abode of permanence;

it is nothing but an abode of worry and affliction.

أأحبابنا يكفي من الدمع ما جرى

وفي عبرتي للصب عظم عبرة

O our beloved ones, do the tears already shed suffice?

In my tears lies a mighty lesson for the lovelorn.

بحقكم لا تقطعوا الرسل بيننا

ولا تصرموا حبل الوفا بالقطيعة

By your honor, do not cut off the messengers between us,

and do not sever the cord of fidelity by breaking ties.

نسيم الصبا بالله ان جزت بالحمى

فحيّ اهيل الحي من اهل جيرتي

Breeze of the east, by God, if you pass through the sanctuary,

then greet the dear folk of the quarter from among my neighbors.

وعرّج على وادي رجاء بسحرة

وبلغ حديث الشوق عني احبتي

And turn aside to Wadi Raja before dawn,

and convey the tale of longing from me to my loved ones.

فمن خاطري لم بطو نشر حديهم

وذلك اني لم احل عن طويتي

For their tale, unfurled, has not been folded away from my mind,

because I have not departed from my innermost resolve.

فيا جيرة العاصي شريعة حبكم

وحقكم ديني وخير شريعتي

So, neighbors of the Orontes, the law of loving you

is, by your honor, my faith and my finest law.

فتلك مني قلبي واقصى مآربي

ومنية افراحي وموطن نشأتي

For that is my heart’s desire and my utmost aim,

and the object of my joys and the home where I grew up.

فخمر وان ما ذقت كوثر مائها

اميل كأني منه نشوان خمرة

Wine it is; though I have not tasted the Kawthar of its waters,

I sway as though it had made me drunk with wine.

عليكم سلام الله والبعد بيننا

وذلك ازكى شاهد بالمحبة

God’s peace be upon you, though distance lies between us,

and that is the purest witness to love.

فلا زال في افق المعالي شهابكم

رجوما به عمد الشياطين سلوتي

May your meteor in the horizon of high honors never cease

to be a missile thwarting the devils’ aim—my forgetting you.

فدام ربيع الجود بالفضل كاملا

مديداً طويل العمر وافر نعمة

So may the spring of generosity endure, perfect in bounty,

long-lasting, long-lived, and rich in blessings.