نَوالُكَ فيهِ يا أَقصى المَرامِ

غِنىً يُسَلِّيهِ عَن كُلِّ الأَنامِ

Your friendship is, O most noble of hopes,

A treasure that makes me needless of all mankind,

وَعَن وَطنٍ يَحِنُّ إِلَيهِ شَوقاً

كَما حَنَّ المُتَيَّم ذُو الغَرامِ

And of a homeland yearned for in longing

As the lovelorn orphan yearns in passion keen.

وَربعٍ في دِيارِ الشامِ سامٍ

سَقاهُ اللَهُ رَيعانَ الغَمامِ

A quarter in Damascus' land, watered

By God with the rains of clouds streaming,

يُزاحِمُ مَنكبَ الجَوزاءِ قَدراً

وَيَسمو رَونَقاً دارَ السَلامِ

Vying with Aldebaran's radiance in fortune,

And rising gracefully, abode of peace.

فَكَيفَ وَقَد بَعَثتَ إِلَيَّ نَظماً

يُحاكي الدُرَّ في سِلك النِظامِ

How, when you have sent me verses

That match pearls in the strand of prosody,

وَنَثراً يَعجَزُ النَظّامُ عَنهُ

إِذا جاراه في نَظمِ الكَلامِ

And prose no prosaist can match

If he contends with it in the verse of speech?

فَما عَقد الثُرَيّا في اِنتِظامٍ

وَلا الشُهبُ المُنيرَةُ بِالظَلامِ

Not the Pleiades in their array

Or the luminous shooting stars in the dark,

وَلا الرَوض الأَريض كَسَتهُ وَشياً

يَدُ الأَنواءِ واكِفَةَ السجامِ

Or the verdant meadow, green its robe,

Wrought by the hands of the winds, grasper of plants,

شَدا بغصونه قمريُّ بانٍ

يُجاوِب شَجوهُ صَدحَ الحَمامِ

Has adorned its boughs with a blossoming cherry

Whose lament answers the warble of the dove,

بِأَحسَنَ رَونَقاً مِنهُ وَأَحلى

عَلى قَلب المُحِبِّ المُستَهامِ

With better elegance than it and sweeter

To the heart of the ardent lover.

فَدُم بَينَ المَوالي ذا نَوالٍ

تَجُرُّ بِهِ ذُيولَ الفَخرِ سامِ

So thrive among the loyal, O you of bounty

Drawing with it the trains of glorious repute.

جَنابُك قِبلَةٌ وَحِماكَ رُكنٌ

وَبابُكَ كَعبَةٌ فيها مُقامي

Your side is a qiblah, your protection a cornerstone,

And your door a Kaaba, wherein is my station.

مَدى الأَيّام ما حَنَّ اِشتِياقاً

فَتىً بِالرُومِ يَصبُو لِلشَآمِ

As long as the days continue I shall yearn

For a youth in Rum who pines for Damascus.