إني حننت حنين مكتئب

مترادف الأحزان والكرب

Indeed, I have yearned with a dejected man's yearning,

beset by sorrows and anguish in succession,

متذكر في دار شقوته

دار النعيم ومنزل الطرب

remembering, in his abode of misery,

the abode of bliss and the dwelling of delight.

جمعت مآرب كل ذي أرب

فيها ونخبة كلّ منتخب

All that any seeker could desire was gathered

within it, along with the choicest of all choice things.

فهواؤها تحيا النفوس به

وترابها كالمسك في الترب

For its air brings souls to life,

and its soil is like musk among soils.

تجري بها الأمواه فوق حصى

كرضاب ثغر بارد شنب

Waters flow there over pebbles,

like the saliva of a cool mouth with pearly teeth,

من كل عين كالمراة صفا

أو جدول كمهند القضب

from every spring as clear as a mirror,

or a stream like an Indian-forged blade,

يشتق أخضر كالسماء له

زهر كمثل الأنجم الشهب

cleaving a sky-like green expanse, whose

flowers are like the gleaming stars.

هذا ومن شجر تعطّفه

يحكي انعطاف الخرّد العرب

All this, and trees whose bending

echoes the swaying of shy, amorous maidens.

عشنا به زمناً نلذّ به

في غفلة من حادث النوب

We lived there for a time, delighting in it,

heedless of the onset of calamities,

في فتية فطنوا لدهرهم

فتناولوا اللذات عن كثب

among young men who understood their times

and so seized pleasures close at hand.

ما شئت من جود ومن كرم

فيهم ومن ظرف ومن أدب

All the generosity and nobility you could wish for

were theirs, with wit and refinement too.

متواصلين على مناسبة

بالفضل تغنيهم عن النسب

They were bound together by an affinity

of merit that left them no need of blood ties.

كم روحة بدمشق رحت بهم

والشمس قد كادت ولم تغب

How many an afternoon outing I took with them in Damascus,

while the sun had nearly, but not yet, set!

وكأنما صاغ الأصيل بها

لقصورها شرفاً من الذهب

And it was as though late afternoon had fashioned there

battlements of gold for its palaces.