لبنان مجدك في المشارق أوّل

والأرض رابية وأنت سنام

Lebanon, your glory in the eastern lands stands foremost,

The earth is a hill, and you its summit.

وبنوك ألطف من نسيمك ظلهم

وأشم من هضباتك الأحلام

Your sons—their shade is gentler than your breeze,

And their forbearance stronger than your highlands.

أخرجتهم للعالمين حَجاحجِا

عُربا وأبناء الكريم كرام

You sent them forth among all peoples as proofs—

Arabs, noble sons of a noble sire.

بين الرياض وبين أفق زاهر

طلع المسيح عليه والإسلام

Between gardens and a radiant horizon,

Christ and Islam dawned upon it.

هذا أديبك يحتفى بوسامه

وبيانه للمشرقَين وسام

Here is your man of letters, rejoicing in his decoration,

Though his eloquence is itself a medal for the two Easts.

ويجل قدر قلادة في صدره

وله القلائد سمطها الإلهام

He exalts the worth of a decoration upon his breast,

Yet he has necklaces whose thread is inspiration:

صدر حوالَيه الجلال وملؤه

كرم وخشية مؤمن وذمام

A breast embraced by majesty and filled with

Generosity, a believer’s reverence, and sacred honor.

حلاّه إحسان الخديو وطالما

حلاه فضل الله والإنعام

The Khedive’s beneficence adorned him—and how often

Have God’s grace and bounty adorned him.

لعلاك يا مطران أم لنهاك أم

لخلالك التشريف والإكرام

Is this for your eminence, O Mutran, or your wisdom, or

For your virtues, that you receive such honor and esteem?

أم للمواقف لم يقفها ضيغم

لولاك لاضربت لها الأهرام

Or for stands that no lion ever dared to take—

Stands at which, but for you, the Pyramids would have trembled?

هذا مقام القول فيك ولم يزل

لك في الضمائر محفل ومقام

Here is the fitting place to speak of you, yet always

Within hearts you have had an assembly and a place.

غالي بقيمتك الأمير محمد

وسعى إليك يحفه الإعظام

Prince Muhammad set your worth exceedingly high

And came to you, attended by reverence,

في مجمع هز البيان لواءه

بك فيه واعتزت بك الأقلام

In an assembly where eloquence raised its banner

Through you, and pens took pride in you there.

ابن الملوك تلا الثناء مخلدا

هيهات يذهب للملوك كلام

A son of kings recited praise to make it deathless—

Far be it from the words of kings to disappear.

فمن البشير لبعلبك وفتية

منهم هنالك فرقد وغمام

Who, then, will carry the glad tidings to Baalbek and my young men,

Among whom, there, are a bright star and a rain cloud?

بين المعرّة في الفخار وبينها

نسب تضىء بنوره الأيام

Between al-Maʿarra, in her pride, and that city

Runs a kinship whose light illumines the days.

يبلى الميكن الفخم ن آثارها

يوما وآثار الخيل قيام

What is firm and splendid among her monuments will one day decay,

While the works of Khalil remain standing.