زحف الصباحُ وهذه راياتهُ

فهوت نجومُ الليل وهي حماتهُ

The dawn crept in and here are its banners

The stars of night have fallen, they are its tents

لو لم تخفْ كرَّ الظلام لما انبرتْ

في الخافقين خوافقاً عذباته

Had the darkness not been afraid, it would not have retreated

With its soft, delicate motes in the horizons

حربٌ جنتْ قتل الكرى بحسام با

رقها فآبَ خضيبةً صفحاته

It was a war that killed the abominable with sharp swords

Whose blades were bloodstained when pages were turned

أو ما ترى نسرَ السماءِ محلقاً

فيها وفي كفّ السِّماكِ قناته

Do you not see the eagle of the sky hovering

In it and in the grip of the falcon its prey

وكأنما شفقُ السماءِ بذيلها

دم معرك ترد السيوف كماته

As if the glow of the sky with its tail

Was the blood of a battlefield where swords lie dead

أبكي الوصالَ تقاصرتْ أعوامهُ

ومن الصدودِ تطاولت ساعاته

I cry over the union whose years have shortened

While from estrangement the hours have lengthened

وبمهجتي رشأٌ لصرفٍ البابلي

يةِ ريقهُ ولبابلٍ لحظاته

And in my throat is the saliva of one who yearns for Babylon

Its spittle and Babylon's moments

ظبيٌ وأحناءُ الضلوع كناسهُ

قمرٌ سوادُ قلوبنا هالاته

A gazelle, and the curves of its ribs are like a bow

A moon, the darkness of our hearts are its crescents

ناشدتهُ عهدَ الحمى وسالتهُ

عن بانهِ فتحدّثت حركاته

I asked it about the covenant of passion and questioned it

About its abode, so its movements spoke

نشوانُ لو كتم اللثامُ جمالهُ

لزيارةٍ باحت بهِ نفحاته

Allure, even if the veil concealed its beauty

Its breaths blew open with its fragrances

خواطيّةٌ أعطافهُ مسكيّةٌ

أنفاسهُ عانيَّةٌ رشفاته

Flirtatious, its contours are aromatic

Its breaths coquettish, its glance penetrating

وسقيمِ خصرٍ لا تصحُّ وعودهُ

وسنانِ طرفٍ لاتنامُ وشاته

And the sickly waist cannot keep its promises

Nor the teeth of its glance that never sleep

لبس الجمالَ مشهّراً لما دجتْ

أصداغهُ وتضرَّجتْ وجناته

Beauty wore its adornment when it darkened

Its cheeks blushed and its sides turned rosy

لو كان في دين الغرامِ مطالبٌ

بدمي لهانَ بخدّهِ إثباته

If in the religion of love there were demands

To prove with my blood, I'd readily offer it to its cheek

ولكنتُ آخذ جفنهُ لكنَّهُ

شرعٌ تجورُ على الخصومِ قضاته

But I would take its eyelids, though it

Is a law that tyrannizes the opponents in its courts

واهاً لسفحِ دمشقَ حيث تفاوحت

كثبانه وترنّحت باناته

Oh, for the slopes of Damascus where

Its dunes once billowed and its maidens languished

هو موقفُ الشكوى الذي لولاهُ ما

فتكت بغلبِ أسودهِ ظبياته

It is the place of lament that without it

The beasts would not have savaged its noble gazelles

متبلّجٌ والليلُ تحت لوائهِ

والصبحُ ما نشرت عليه ملاته

Shining while the night is under its banner

And the dawn has not yet spread its possessions

والأرض تفهق بالمياهِ كأنها

أيدي وفودِ مليكها وهباته

The earth awakens with water as if it were

The hands of its king's delegates and gifts

يلقاك نشرُ نسيمها وكأنما

خلعتْ على تلك الهضاب صفاته

The breeze meets you with its fragrance as if

It had adorned those plateaus with its qualities

وترى صفاءَ الجو يشبهُ وجههُ

سيلَ الندى فتهللتْ قسماته

And you see the clarity of the air resembles his face

The torrents of dew have made his features shine