1. عاودتُ بعد تغيُّبٍ لُبنانا

    ونزلتُ رَحْبَ فِنائه جَذلانا

    I returned to Lebanon after an absence,

    and alighted joyfully in its spacious courtyard.

  2. ودَرَجتُ اقتنصُ الشباب خَسِرتُه

    ذا رِبحةٍ ورَبِحته خسرانا

    And I roamed, hunting the youth I had lost

    at a profit, and had gained at a loss.

  3. فوجدتُ رَيْعان الجمالِ ولم أسَأ

    أني أضعت من الصبا ريعانا

    I found beauty in its prime, and did not grieve

    that I had wasted some of youth's prime.

  4. ووجدتُ في مرح الحياة طفولتي

    وشبيبتي وكهولتي سِيّانا

    And in life's merriment I found my childhood,

    and my youth and my middle age all alike.

  5. ونقضتُ بيني والكوارثِ مَوثِقاً

    وأخذت من عَنَتِ الزمان أمانا

    And I broke a covenant between myself and calamities,

    and secured safety from time's hardships.

  6. وأقَمت من يَومي لأمسيَ حاجزاً

    وضَرَبت سَداً بينَنا النِسيانا

    And I made my today a barrier against my yesterday,

    and set forgetfulness as a wall between us.

  7. وطلَبتُ عونَ قريحتي فوجدتُها

    سمحاءَ تبذُل خيرَها مِعوانا

    And I sought my poetic gift's help, and found it

    generous, offering its best, a ready helper.

  8. وأثرتُ هاجعةَ القوافي لم تجد

    في الراقدين لركضة ميدانا

    And I roused the slumbering rhymes, which had found no

    field for a gallop among the sleepers.

  9. قام الجفافُ بعذرها واستامَها

    خِصبُ الجبال مرونةً ولِيانا

    Dryness excused them, and they were asked

    by the mountains' lushness for suppleness and pliancy.

  10. وأريتها " حَمّانة " فرأتْ بها

    مَلَكاً يمُدُّ الشعرَ لا شيطانا

    And I showed them Hammana, and there they saw

    an angel sustaining poetry, not a demon.

  11. وأردتُها تَصِف الحياة رقيقةً

    وجليلةً وتُجيدها إتقانا

    And I wanted them to portray life as tender

    and majestic, rendering it with perfect skill.

  12. فشكَتْ إلى لُغىً تضيقُ حروفُها

    عن أن تُسيغ السجعَ والأوزانا

    Then they complained to tongues whose letters were too cramped

    to swallow rhymed prose and meters.

  13. " شاغورُ حمانا " ولم يَرَ جنةً

    من لم يشاهدْ مرةً " حمانا "

    Shaghur Hammana! No one has seen a paradise

    who has not once beheld Hammana.

  14. مرْجٌ أرادتْه الطبيعةُ صورةً

    منها على إبداعها عُنوانا

    A meadow nature wished to be an image

    of herself, a sign of her artistry.

  15. فحبتْه بالمُتَع الروائعِ كلِّها

    ورَمَت عليه جمالَها ألوانا

    So she endowed it with every marvelous delight

    and cast her beauty over it in colors.

  16. المنتقاةَ من الحياة طبيعةً

    والمصطفاة من البلاد مكانا

    Chosen from life for its nature,

    and singled out among the lands for its setting;

  17. والخافقاتِ ظلالُها عن سَجسَجٍ

    يَشفى الغَليل ويُثلجُ الظمأنا

    and whose fluttering shades reveal temperate air

    that quenches burning thirst and refreshes the thirsty;

  18. والغامراتِ عيونُها وديانَها

    وجبالَها وبقيعَها الفينانا

    and whose springs inundate its valleys,

    its mountains and its luxuriant wooded ground;

  19. والغارقاتِ مروجُها في سُندُسٍ

    خُضرٍ تَفوح من الشَذا أردانا

    and whose meadows are drowned in fine silk,

    green, its sleeves exhaling sweet fragrance.

  20. وادٍ تَلَفَّت ناشئاً فاذا به

    بين الجبال تكفَّلَته حَنانا

    A valley looked about in its youth, and found itself

    among mountains that tenderly took it into their care.

  21. واذا بها بمياهه وغياضِه

    جاءَت تحوِّطُ مَرْجه بستانا

    And behold, with its waters and thickets, they

    came to enclose its meadow as a garden.

  22. انظر إلى الجبل الأصمِّ بزرعِه

    متبختراً وبضرعِه رَيّانا

    Look at the solid mountain, with its crops,

    strutting, its udder brimming.

  23. لامستِ بالشك اليقينَ وزعزعَتْ

    مرآكِ نفساً تنشُدُ الإيمانا

    You touched certainty with doubt, and shaken

    by the sight of you was a soul seeking faith.

  24. أمِنَ الجنان وخمرها لكِ صورةٌ

    صوِّرَت عنكِ الجنانُ جنانا

    Is your image drawn from paradise and its wine?

    Paradise was made paradise in your image.

  25. عاودتُ ماءَكِ ناهلاً وحسبتُني

    عاودتُ بعدَ تعفُّفٍ إدمانا

    I returned to drink your water, and thought I had

    returned to addiction after abstinence.

  26. يا اختَ " لا مرتين " ارهفَ جوُك

    الإحساسَ منه ولطَّفَ الوجدانا

    O sister of Lamartine, your air sharpened

    his perception and refined his feelings.

  27. هذي الينابيعُ الحسانُ تفجَّرتْ

    منها ينابيعُ البَيان حِسانا

    These lovely springs—there burst forth

    from them lovely springs of eloquence,

  28. الخالداتُ خلودَ شمسك طلقةً

    والسامياتُ سموَّ هضبِك شانا

    immortal as your radiant sun,

    and lofty in stature as your hills,

  29. والباعثاتُ من العواطف خيرَها

    إيناسةً . وأرقَّها أحزانا

    and stirring the best of feelings

    for solace, and their tenderest sorrows.

  30. وحيٌ تنزَّلَ والندى ورسالةٌ

    هَبَطتْ وأضواء النجوم قِرانا

    Revelation descended with the dew, and a message

    came down in company with the starlight,

  31. في ساعةٍ أزَليةٍ بهباتِها

    شأت الوحاة وبَزَّتِ الأزمانا

    in an eternal hour that, through its gifts,

    outstripped the inspirers and surpassed the ages.

  32. يا أيها النهرُ الذي بخريره

    وَعَتِ العصورُ نشيدَهُ الرنّانا

    O river, through whose murmuring

    the ages have remembered your ringing song!

  33. يا أيها الجبلُ المَهيبُ بصمته

    مترهِّباً يستلهمُ الأكوانا

    O mountain, majestic in your silence,

    like a monk, drawing inspiration from the worlds!

  34. يا أيها الشجَرُ الذي بحفيفِه

    وفَّى الحياة ونورها شُكرانا

    O trees, which with your rustling

    have rendered thanks to life and its light!

  35. ما ضرَّ انك ما مَلَكتَ لسانا

    ولأنت أفصحُ مَنطِقاً وبيانا

    What harm is it that you have no tongue,

    when you are more eloquent in speech and expression?

  36. " شاغور حَمّانا " أثارَ بلُطفه

    قِممَ الجبال وأرقَصَ الوديانا

    Shaghur Hammana, with its gentleness, stirred

    the mountain peaks and made the valleys dance.

  37. فرشت له صُمُّ الصفا أذيالها

    وتفتحَّت ثَغَراتُها أحضانا

    The solid rocks spread their skirts for it,

    and their clefts opened into embraces.

  38. ومَشَى عليها مالكاً ادراجها

    متشوقاً لمسيله عَجْلانا

    And it walked over them, master of their steps,

    eager for its course, hastening.

  39. غَنِنَتْ به غُرُّ الضِفاف فخورةً

    وزَهَا به يَبَسُ الثَرى جذلانا

    The gleaming banks hummed with it, proud,

    and the dry earth flourished through it, joyful.

  40. وكسا الحشائشَ رونقاً لم تُعطَهُ

    وجلا رُواءُ نميره العيدانا

    And it clothed the grasses in splendor they had never been given,

    and its pure water's beauty burnished the boughs.

  41. وبدا الحَصَى اللمّاعُ في رَقراقه

    دُرراً غواليَ تزدهي وجُمانا

    And in its shimmering water the gleaming pebbles appeared

    as precious, resplendent pearls and pearly beads.

  42. تَرَكَ الجبالَ وعُريَها وهَجيرَها

    وتقمَّصَ الاشجارَ والأغصانا

    It left the mountains, their nakedness and their scorching heat,

    and clothed itself in trees and branches.

  43. ورمى الخيالَ بمعجزٍ من حُسْنِهِ

    في حالتَه كاسياً عُرْيانا

    And it struck the imagination with a miracle of its beauty,

    in its state, whether clothed or naked.

  44. واستقبلته على الضِفاف بلابلٌ

    نَشْوى تُغَنِّى مثلَه نَشْوانا

    And on the banks, nightingales welcomed it,

    intoxicated, singing like the intoxicated stream.

  45. مُتَلوِّياً يُعطيك في لَفتاته

    بين المسارب تائهاً حيرانا

    Winding, it shows itself to you in its turns,

    lost and bewildered among the channels.

  46. ألقت عليه الشمسُ نُوراً باهتاً

    زان الظلال رقيقةً وازدانا

    The sun cast a pale light upon it,

    which adorned the delicate shadows and was itself adorned.

  47. وارتد إبّان الظهيرة غائماً

    كالفجر يُعلن ضجةً اِيذانا

    And at noon it returned, clouded,

    like dawn, announcing itself with a clamor.

  48. أوغَلتُ في أحراجه وكأنني

    أصبحت أولَ مرَّةٍ فنّانا

    I plunged deep into its thickets, as though I

    had become an artist for the first time.

  49. وكأنني فيما أُحاولُ ، هاربٌ

    حَذِرٌ مخافةَ ان يَرَى إنسانا

    And as though, in what I attempted, I were a fugitive,

    wary, afraid of seeing a human being.

  50. ووجدتُ نفسي والطبيعة ناسيا

    ماذا يضمّ العالمان سوانا

    And I found myself with nature, forgetting

    what the two worlds contained besides us.

  51. ورميتُ أثقال المطامحِ جانباً

    ووجدت عن خُدُعاتِها سُلوانا

    And I cast the burdens of ambitions aside,

    and found solace from their deceptions.

  52. وحسِبت عصفوراً يُلاعب ظلَّه

    في الماءِ ينعمُ راحةً وأمانا

    And I fancied myself a sparrow playing with its shadow

    in the water, enjoying ease and safety.

  53. واستسلمتْ نفسي لاحلامِ الصبا

    ولمَسْت طيف خيالها يقظانا

    And my soul surrendered to the dreams of youth,

    and, awake, I touched the phantom of their imaginings.

  54. ومَزَجْتُ بين الذكريات خليطةً

    فوجدتُني متلذِّذاً أسيانا

    And I mingled memories into a blend,

    and found myself both delighted and sorrowful.

  55. وتسلَّلتْ بالرَغم مني مرَّةً

    صُورُ الحقائق تبعثُ الأشجانا

    And once, despite myself, there stole in

    images of reality, stirring sorrows.

  56. فإذا الخيال المحضُ يلمعُ زاهياً

    وإذا الحقيقةُ تُطفىءُ اللمَعَانا

    And behold, pure imagination shone resplendent,

    and behold, reality extinguished the radiance.