إن تهتف الشام : ميخائيل : أنجدها

كأنّه قدر يحمي به القدر

If Damascus cheers: Mikhail, I will find her

If the Levant cries out: 'Mikhail, save her!' / he is like a destiny by which Destiny itself is shielded.

As if it is fate that protects fate

When faces submit to despair, turning pitch-black, / faith and victory shine brightly in your face.

إذا الوجوه عنت لليأس حالكة

أضاء في وجهك الإيمان و الظفر

When faces turned to despair, confused

You abstained from towering, absolute power, / whereas some abstain only because they lack the might.

Faith and victory shone on your face

Unyielding in resolve while necks are chained, / stern for the sake of truth, yet you never break.

عففت عن قدرة عصماء باذخة

وربّما عفّ أقوام و ما قدروا

You refrained from an invincible power

Yours are traits of pure light and generosity, / trailing a luxurious, fragrant hem across the stars.

And perhaps some refrained though they knew not the value

A vision so profound, as if the daughters of the unseen adore it, / for it holds the secret, the phantoms, and the forms.

صعب الشكيمة و الأعناق مسلسة

قاس من الحقّ لكن لست تنكسر

Of strong will and necks bound in chains

And a boldness for eminence and truth, which, if it faced / a lion, the beast would disown its own fangs and claws.

Harsh with truth, but you do not break

You adorned it with a beautiful grace—exalted is its Creator— / of modesty, devoid of arrogance and vanity.

لك الشمائل من نور و من كرم

لها على النجم ذيل مترف عطر

You have traits of light and generosity

No tyrant ever dared profane the den of truth, / without the tiger laying bare its fangs.

With a plume on the star perfumed and elegant

You never compromised with the mighty in their tyranny, / nor did you betray, for the worst of men are the betrayers.

رأي كأنّ بنات الغيب تعشقه

فعنده السرّ و الأطياف و الصور

An opinion as if the daughters of the unseen love it

Whenever a mention or news of you wafts like perfume, / Aleppo the White beams with joyous anticipation.

In it is the secret, the specters and the images

You are the deepest desire in the whispers of its conscience, / and speaking of you perfumes the evening tales of the companions.

و جرأة في العلى و الحقّ لوجبهت

ليثا تبرأ منه النّاب و الظفر

And courage towards the most high and truth terrifying

I offered you pure love, free from boasting and bitterness, / though boasting and bitterness are among a lover's flaws.

A lion the fangs and claws disown

I did not single you out from fear or flattery, / nor because I am in need of your favors.

زينتها بوسيم جلّ مبدعه

من الحياء فلا زهو و لا بطر

Adorned by a handsome creator

But in loyalty to a past grace you bestowed, / and because you are the treasure hoarded for the homelands.

With shyness so no arrogance or conceit

The nightingale of the grove is content in its thicket / with the secret of beauty, while others are satisfied with fruit.

و ما استباح عرين الحقّ طاغية

إلاّ وصرح عن أنيابه النّمر

And no tyrant ransacked the lair of truth

Except that the tiger bared its fangs at him

و لم تهادن قويّا في تحكمه

و لا غدرت و شرّ النّاس من غدروا

And you did not appease the strong in their rule

Nor betray, the evilest of people are traitors

إذا تأرج ذكر منك أو نبأ

تهلّلت حلب الشهباء تنتظر

If news or mention of you stirs

Sunlit Aleppo cheers expectantly

أنت اللبانة في نجوى ضمائرها

و فيك عطّر جوّ السامر السّمر

You are the incense in its conscience's whispers

And you scent the air of the sleepless night

أصفيتك الحبّ لا منّا و لا كدرا

و من هنات المحبّ المنّ و الكدر

You purified love not out of fear or greed

Nor hatred of the hater and the hostile

و ما اصطفيتك عن خوف و عن ملق

و لا لأنّي إلى نعماك أفتقر

And I did not choose you out of fear or flattery

Nor because I need your favors

لكن وفاء لنعمى منك سابقة

و أنّك الكنز للأوطان يدّخر

But loyalty to your past graces

You are the treasure hoarded for homelands

و بلبل الدّوح يرضيه بأيكته

سرّ الجمال . و يرضي غيره الثمر

And the bulbul is pleased at its perch

The secret of beauty. And others are pleased at the fruit