لَقَد نَسَبوا الخِيامَ إِلى عَلاءِ

أَبَيتُ قَبولَهُ كُلَّ الإِباءِ

They attributed Khayyam to Ala

They ascribed the tents to Glory,

I refused to accept it, refusing all

But I rejected that claim with utter refusal.

وَما سَلَّمتُ فَوقَكَ لِلثُرَيّا

وَلا سَلَّمتُ فَوقَكَ لِلسَماءِ

And I did not bow above you to fortune

For I did not concede that the Pleiades rise above you,

Nor did I bow above you to the sky

Nor did I surrender your station to the sky.

وَقَد أَوحَشتَ أَرضَ الشامِ حَتّى

سَلَبتَ رُبوعَها ثَوبَ البَهاءِ

You made the Levant land desolate until

You have left the land of Sham in desolation,

You stripped its landscapes of the clothes of splendor

Stripping its dwellings of the robe of splendor.

تَنَفَّسُ وَالعَواصِمُ مِنكَ عَشرٌ

فَتَعرِفُ طيبَ ذَلِكَ في الهَواءِ

You breathe and the capitals smell of you, ten

It sighs, though the Border-Cities lie ten days from you,

So you recognize that scent in the air

And knows the fragrance of your presence in the air.