(أَدمشق) ما للحسن لا يعدوك
حتى خصصتِ به بغير شريكِ
Damascus, what beauty fails to pass by you
Exclusively endowed with it without a partner
أَشغفته حباً وَتمتِ فؤادَه
فغدا بكل طريفةٍ يصفيكِ
It has fallen in love with you and you have captured its heart
Thus it describes you in every charming way
سبحانَ من أَعطاكِ أَشهد أَنّه
وَفّى وَزادَ بسيبه معطيكِ
Glory be to the One who granted you. I bear witness that He
Has fulfilled and increased your Giver's gifts to you
فبرزتِ للأَبصارِ أَروَعَ مظهرٍ
في الحسنِ وَالإِبداعِ عن باريكِ
So you have emerged to sights as the finest spectacle
In beauty and creativity from your Creator
الحبُ برّحَ بي وَأَنتِ بعثتِه
أَإِليك أَشكو الحبَّ أَم أَشكوك
Love took me by surprise, and you aroused it
Do I complain of love to you or complain of you?
فقْتِ الحواضرَ وَالبلادَ بنسبةٍ
من (قاسيون) إِلى الذرى تنميكِ
You have surpassed cities and countries in lineage
From Qasyoon to eternity developing you
يا بنت مَنْ طال السها أُيتيمة
في الحسن وَهو معمَّر يفديكِ
O daughter of one whose misery was prolonged fatherless
In beauty while he is long-lived ransoming you
شابتْ مفارقُهُ وَجلَّلَ رأسَه
صلعٌ فزدتِ جلالةً بأَبيكِ
His separation has aged him and his head turned white
Baldness, so you increased his majesty through your father
فكأَنه أَسدٌ بقربك رابضٌ
من دهره وصروفه يحميك
So it is as if he is a lion settled around you
Protecting you from the days and their events
يا مهبطَ السحرِ الحلال أَلم يكنْ
(حسَّان) ينشي سحرَه من فيكِ
O landing place of beautiful sorcery, did not
Hassan derive his sorcery from you?
رُدّيتِ من زهرِ الرياضِ مطارفاً
ما بين محلولٍ إلى محبوكِ
You have returned from the flowers of the garden as a coquette
From dissolved to braided
فكأَنما الأشجارُ فيك عرائس
ماستْ بكل منمنمٍ وَمحوكِ
It is as if the trees in you are brides
Touched with every twitter and braid
وكأَنما (بردى) سبائكُ فضةٍ
تجري عَلَى درٍّ بها مسلوكِ
As if Barada's rapids are streams of silver
Flowing over a pearl string in your valley
وكأَنما حصباؤه وَبريقها
عقدُ من الألماس في هاديكِ
And as if its pebbles and its flashing
Are a necklace of diamonds minted in your calm waters
وإِذا الغزالةُ غازلتكِ بسمتِ عن
ثغرٍ بأَزهارِ الرياضِ ضحوكِ
And if the gazelle flirts with you, you smile from
Lips with the garden's flowers laughing
أَهدتْ إِليكِ التاجَ حين بزوغِها
فلبستِه من عَسْجدٍ مسبوكِ
She offered you the crown at its rising
So you wore it of molded gold
وَإِذا ارتديتِ من الليالي حلّةً
سوداءَ تشبه حلةَ البطريكِ
And if you wear a black garb of the nights
Resembling the garb of the patriarch
فالنجمُ أَزرارٌ وَثاقبُ شهبها
نثرتْ عليكِ كدرهمٍ مسكوكِ
Then the stars are buttons and the piercing of its falling stars
Were sprinkled upon you like minted gold
وَإِذا الرياضُ تَنَفَسّتْ في سحرةٍ
فغمت رباكِ بعنبرٍ مسحوكِ
And if at dawn the gardens breathe
Engulfing you in amber distilled
يا حبذا الأَطيارُ وَهي سواجعٌ
فكأَنها الشعراءُ إِذْ وَصفوكِ
O would that the birds visit while yearning
As if they were the poets when describing you
(الغوطتان) وَأَنت مثل جزيرةٍ
بحرانِ يلتطمانِ في شاطيكِ
And you are like an island between two seas
Crashing into your coasts
وَ (الغوطتان) وَأَنتِ بدرٌ ساطع
لكليلةٍ ظلماء ذات حلوك
And the two Ghotas while you are a shining moon
For a dark night that is sweetly dimpled
كم من زكيِّ دمٍ وَنفسٍ حرّةٍ
فاضا لوصلِكِ في حمى (اليرموك)
How many pure souls and noble spirits
Poured out to join you in the zeal of Yarmouk
(عمر) الذي وَطئتْ سنابكُ خيله
(إِيوانَ كسرى) قد ترجّلَ فيكِ
Omar, whose horses' hooves trampled
The throne hall of Chosroes, dismounted to you
رفعتْ (أُميةُ) فيك أَعظمَ دولةٍ
كانت قواعدَها سيوفُ بنيكِ
The Umayyads raised through you the greatest state
With swords of your sons as its foundations
كم من شموسٍ ليس يغرب نورها
من (عبد شمس) ضمَّها ناديكِ
How many suns whose light does not set
Abd Shams embraced in your club
تهوي قلوبهمُ إليكِ صبابةً
لولا مشاعرُ (مكةٍ) حجّوكِ
Their hearts plunge youthfully to you
If not for Makkah's sanctity, they would perform Hajj to you
لولا حمى (البيت الحرام) وَشطره
عند الصلاةِ وجوههم وَلُّوكِ
If not for the sanctity of Bayt al-Haram and its direction
At prayer, they would turn their faces to you
لو لم يكونوا بعدُ في فجر الهدى
وَرأَوا جمالكِ فتنةً عبدوكِ
If they had not yet been, in the dawn of guidance
And saw your beauty, they would worship you
وَسللت من موسى حساماً فيصلاً؟
قد كان مغمده (لو ذريك)؟
Did you unsheathe from Musa a separating sword, whose
Scabbard, if it were drawn, would protect you?
وَرمتْ (بصقر الدينِ) دونكِ باذلاً
نفساً يُضَنُّ بمثلها ليقيكِ
And did you hurl at your service with Saif al-Din
A soul that would be distracted to ransom you?
وَظللتِ خالصةَ العروبةِ حينما
أُخذت بنوك بمحنة (التتريكِ)
You remained the quintessence of Arabism when
Your children were seized by the tribulation of the Tatars
وَتطهّرتْ أَنسابُ من قطنوكِ من
دعوى أَخي (السريان) وَ (الفينيكي)
And the lineage of those native to you was cleansed
From the claim of my Syrian and Phoenician brother
أَوَ ما عتبتِ عَلَى الزمانِ وَريبه
أَمسى بكل رزيةٍ يرميكِ
Or have you blamed time and its corruption?
It has ended up afflicting you with every calamity
فرأَيتِ من سعدِ الزمان وَنحسه
عزَّ المليكِ وَذلَة المملوكِ
So you have seen from the auspices and misfortunes of time
The glory of the ruler and humiliation of the slave
وَجرتْ جوارٍ بالنحوسِ وَلم تكنْ
إِلاّ بأَسعدِ طالِع تأْتيكِ
And luck flowed and was not
Except with your happiest ascendant coming to you
إِني أَرى (بردى) تفيضُ عيونهُ
بدموعِها حزناً عَلى ماضيكِ
I see Barada overflowing its springs
With tears grieving over your past
وَأَرى هضابَكِ كالقبورِ غدا بها
من كلِّ غصنٍ نادبٌ يرثيك
And I see your slopes like graves that have become
Each branch a lamenting mourner weeping for you
وَإِذا الرياحُ تناوَحتْ ناحتْ عَلَى
حرمِ مباحٍ أَو حمىً مهتوكِ
And if the winds wail and moan, they moan over
A sanctuary violated or an inviolable sanctuary desecrated
حقُ الملاحة أنْ تصانَ وَما أَرى
أَهليك هذا الحق قد وَفّوكِ
The right of navigation should be protected, yet I do not see
Your people have preserved this right for you
في (ميسلون) أَسى يطول وَحسرةٌ
عانيهما ما كان بالمفكوكِ
In Maysloon there is endless sorrow and regret
That they have suffered with the unraveled
لم أَدرِ يومئذ أَمْنْتَدَبُوكِ أَمْ
أَهلوكِ أَم حكّامهم وَتروكِ
On that day I did not know if they betrayed you
Or your people or their rulers deserted you
ما أَنس لا أَنس السماءَ وَقد غدتْ
في شهر (آب) بوبلها تبكيكِ
I do not forget the sky now that it has become
In August filled with its clouds weeping for you
وَبدا احمرارٌ في صفاءِ أَديمها
فكأَنه شكوى الدم المسفوكِ
And redness appeared in the clarity of its horizon
As if it is the blood's complaint of that spilled
وَتزاوَرتْ شمسُ النهار عن الحمى
فكأنها في الظهرِ ذات دلوكِ
And the sun of daytime exchanged the zeal
As if at noon carrying a bucket
قالوا اتركِ الذكرى وَلو طاوَعتهم
ما كنتُ منها قطّ بالمتروكِ
They said: Forget the memories. Even if I obeyed them
I would never abandon it
أنا لست أَعني بالسياسة إِنما
هي نفثةٌ من ذي جوى منهوكِ
I do not mean politics; it is but
A sigh from a wounded heart
