أَراني غَريباً في دِمَشقَ وَأَهلُها

بَصيرونَ بي لَكِن عَمّوا عَن مَحاسِني

I see myself a stranger in Damascus, though its people

Can see me, they are blind to my virtues.

فَيا ضَيعَتي فيهِم وَفَضلِيَ ظاهِرٌ

كَأَنّي لَدَيهِم مُصحَفٌ عِندَ باطِني

So it is I am lost among them, though my excellence

Is plain, as if I were a Koran to their eyes unopened.