نبا عن ذويه وخلانه

وعاف مراتع أوطانه

He turned away from his kin and close friends,

And forsook the pastures of his homelands.

وخلى حماهُ وبدل داراً

بديرٍ وأهلاً برهبانه

And left his haven, exchanging a home

For a monastery, and family for its monks.

شبابٌ نضيرٌ يُعاصي هواهُ

ويقهر سلطانَ شيطانه

In the bloom of youth, he resists his desire,

And overcomes his devil's dominion.

ويخلعُ ثوب الحرير ويرضى

بثوب الحداد واشجانه

And sheds the silken robe, content

With the garb of mourning and its sorrows.

ويغشى الكريهةَ وهوَ مسوقٌ

إليها بدافع إيمانه

And he enters battle, driven

Toward it by the impulse of his faith.

يحارب بطلاً ويصرع جهلاً

ويذهب بؤساً باحسانه

He fights falsehood and fells ignorance,

And banishes misery through his kindness.

رسولُ الفضيلة في كل صقعٍ

رسولٌ كثيرٌ بإخوانه

A messenger of virtue in every region,

A messenger multiplied through his brethren.

وما كان جيشُ اليسوعي إلا

خيالَ الالهِ بسلطانه

And the Jesuit army was nothing but

God's image in His might,

ورمزَ قواهُ على أرضهِ

ونورَ هُداهُ لأنسانه

And a symbol of His powers upon His earth,

And the light of His guidance for humankind.

يقيم الحدودَ بشرع المسيح

ويرعى العهودَ لجيرانه

He upholds the bounds of Christ's law,

And keeps his covenants with his neighbors.

ويغذو البنين بعلمٍ صحيحٍ

يفيض لطالبِ البانه

And nourishes the boys with sound knowledge,

Whose milk flows freely for the seeker.

ولولا معاهدُ علمٍ بناها

لطالَ الضلالُ ببنيانه

And were it not for the institutes of learning he built,

Error's edifice would have towered high,

ولم يرق قسٌّ إلى منبرٍ

يرددُ آيات سحبانه

And no priest would have ascended a pulpit

Reciting the verses of his Sahban.

ولا كان للعلم في الشرق روضٌ

تطوف الطيورُ بافنانه

Nor would learning have had a garden in the East,

Where birds circle among its boughs.

يحن الحمامُ إلى ايكه

ويهفو الهزار إلى بانه

Doves yearn for its grove,

And the nightingale longs for its ben trees.

ويجري البيان بافيائه

نميراً إلى مستقي حانه

And eloquence flows in its shade,

Sweet and pure, to one drawing drink from its tavern.

كأن الربيع له خالدٌ

فلا ينتهي عمرُ نيسانه

As though its spring were everlasting,

So the life of its April never ends.

رعى اللَه قوماً حموا دوحه

وصانوا نواضر اغصانه

May God protect those who guarded its great trees,

And preserved its flourishing branches.

واجروا لوراده منهلاً

تسيل العلوم بغدرانه

And set a watering place flowing for its visitors,

The sciences streaming through its pools.

تولاه كل اخي همةٍ

رست حوله مثل حيطانه

Every man of resolve has cared for it,

His resolve firm around it like its walls.

يقيم على طيره ساهراً

كأن الكرى خصم اجفانه

He keeps watch over its birds, sleepless,

As though sleep were the foe of his eyelids.

ضنينٌ بها ضن ذي عيلةٍ

شفيقٍ برب بصبيانه

Jealously protective of them, like a man with dependents,

Tender-hearted, [tending] his children.

مطالعها ملءُ الحاظه

واصواتها ملءُ آذانه

Their appearances fill his gaze,

And their voices fill his ears.

إذا هاجمتها نسورُ الخنى

رماها بوابل نيرانه

When the vultures of obscenity attack them,

He pelts them with a downpour of his fire.

فاولادنا عنده في حمىً

يهي الدهرُ عن ثلم جدرانه

So our children are with him in a sanctuary;

Time is too weak to breach its walls.

ومن كاليسوعي في أرضنا

تراه وفياً للبنانه

And who in our land is like the Jesuit,

Whom you see loyal to his Lebanon?

طوى فيه قرناً يعاني جهاداً

لخير بنيه وعمرانه

He has passed a century there, enduring struggle,

For the welfare of its sons and its flourishing.

سلامٌ عليكم جنود المسيح

دعاة الجميل وعرفانه

Peace be upon you, soldiers of Christ,

Heralds of kindness and gratitude for it.

أتيتم ولبناننا في دجى

فكنتم ضياءً لسكانه

You came while our Lebanon lay in darkness,

And became a light for its inhabitants.

ولما حرثتم رياض العلوم

سقاها الكريم بهتَّانه

And when you tilled the gardens of the sciences,

The Generous One watered them with His downpour.

وقد تم قرنٌ عليكم وأنتم

كورد الربيع بابانه

And a century has passed over you, yet you are

Like spring's roses in their season.

فهيهات ينفك لبنان عنكم

ولو أدرجوه بأكفانه

So never shall Lebanon be parted from you,

Even if they were to wrap it in its shrouds.