لَئِن عَزَّ أَقوامٌ وَكانوا أَذِلَّةً

لَئِن عَزَّ أَقوامٌ وَكانوا أَذِلَّةً

وَصارَ لَهُم مِن بَعدِ فَقرِهِمُ مالُ

وَصارَ لَهُم مِن بَعدِ فَقرِهِمُ مالُ

If some people have become mighty, though once they were lowly,

Though people rise and though they fall

and wealth has come to them after their poverty,

And fortunes shift from great to small,

فَما ذاكَ بِدعاً في دِمَشقَ لِأَنَّها

فَما ذاكَ بِدعاً في دِمَشقَ لِأَنَّها

تَمَلَّكَها في سالِفِ الدَّهرِ زَبّالُ

تَمَلَّكَها في سالِفِ الدَّهرِ زَبّالُ

that is nothing new in Damascus, for

This is no miracle in Damascus -

a refuse collector ruled it in days of old.

Once ruled by trash collectors en masse.