حي الديار ديار جلق واستزِد — Germanus Farhat

حي الديار ديار جلق واستزِدْ

فيها المنى من سفح ذاك الوادي

Greet the dwellings, the dwellings of Jilliq, and seek more

Of your wishes there, from that valley's slope.

واقر السلام أحبةً فيها غدَوا

روحَ الفؤاد وراحةَ الأكباد

And convey greetings to loved ones there who have become

The heart's soul and the livers' solace.

كم مر لي بالصالحية مربعٌ

مصطافُهُ وِردٌ من الأوراد

How many a spring retreat in al-Salihiyya have I known,

Its summer haunt a litany among litanies.

رُح يا نسيم مسلِّماً فيه على

كيوانها من رائحٍ أو غاد

Go, O breeze, bearing greetings there to

Her Kiwan, as an evening traveler or a morning one.

واستخبرنَّ رياضَها وغياضها

فلقد أضعت بظلِّهن فؤادي

And inquire of her gardens and her groves;

For in their shade I have lost my heart,

ما بين أزهارٍ تدبَّجَ لونُها

من أحمرٍ أو أبيضٍ أو جادي

Among flowers whose color is richly embroidered,

Red, white, or saffron-hued.

قد صافحت أيدي النسيم غصونَها

أحسن بغصنٍ مائسٍ ميّاد

The breeze's hands have clasped their branches;

How lovely a swaying, bending branch!

وجداولٍ قابلتها بحدائقٍ

وخمائل واصلتها بأياد

And streams I met amid gardens,

And groves with which I kept ties through kindness.

طوراً تريني نَورَها متبسماً

طرباً وطوراً ذاكيَ الأبراد

At times she shows me her bloom smiling

In delight, and at times with fragrant mantles.

فكأن قاني وردها في غصنه

نارٌ على علمٍ وقدحُ زناد

As though her crimson rose upon its branch

Were fire upon a mountain and the striking of fire-sticks.

جُمِعت بها الأمواه جمعاً سالماً

فتكسرت من شاهقٍ مُتماد

The waters were gathered there in an unbroken gathering,

Then shattered down from a lofty, far-stretching height.

مرَّ النسيمُ بها عليلاً فاستوى

عندي صحيحاً والقلوب صواد

The breeze passed through her ailing, then became

Healthy to me, while hearts were thirsty.

والغيم في أفق السماء ممزقٌ

والشمسُ دون رِداه بالمرصاد

The cloud is tattered on the horizon of the sky,

And the sun lies in wait beneath its cloak.

تبدو وتخفى من خلال فروجه

فكأنها تنقاد من قَوَّاد

She appears and hides through its openings,

As though she were led by a guide.

شمسٌ تريك سماء أزهار الربى

تبدي نجوماً والنجومُ دآدي

A sun that shows you a sky of hillside flowers,

Revealing stars, while the stars are playthings.

والبدر قد عقدت عليه إزاره

هالاته حذراً من الحساد

And the full moon has had its waistcloth bound about it

By its halos, for fear of the envious.

سقياً دمشقَ وماءها ونسيمَها

فثلاثةٌ عَقدَت عليَّ ودادي

May rain bless Damascus, her water, and her breeze;

For these three have bound me fast in love.

عاهدت أنواءَ العهاد بربعها

أن لا يحول عن العهود عِهادي

I pledged to the rain-stars of recurring showers in her abode

That my pledges would not swerve from the covenants.

نُوّارها عقدٌ يزيِّن جيدَها

يُزري بعقد زبرجدٍ ونجادي

Her blossoms are a necklace adorning her neck,

Putting a necklace of chrysolite and my sword-belt to shame.

فكأنها عقدُ الزمان وطوقُهُ

في جيد كل مدينةٍ وبلاد

As though she were time's necklace and its collar

On the neck of every city and land.

رقت شمائلُها وراقت منظراً

تروي عن العشاق بالإسناد

Her ways grew gentle, and she was lovely to behold,

Recounting lovers' tales through a chain of narrators.

في نُطقها نُطقُ الحجاز ولينِها

حلبٌ روت بالظَرف عن بغداد

In her speech is the Hijaz's speech, and in her gentleness

Aleppo, relating with refinement from Baghdad.

سر في زمام أريجها تجدِ الهدى

يا نفحةً رَدَّت إليَّ فؤادي

Follow the rein of her fragrance, and you will find guidance,

O fragrant breath that restored my heart to me!

ما روضةٌ عدنيةٌ ذهبيةٌ

قد ضمخت تيجانها بزَباد

No golden garden of Eden,

Whose crowns have been anointed with civet,

فتعطرت أقطارها وتنوّرت

أنوارها وأتت بكل مراد

Whose reaches grew fragrant, and whose

Lights shone, granting every wish;

بسط الربيع بها نمارقَ زَهرها

منشورةً كدراهم الأسجاد

Where spring spread the cushions of its blossoms,

Strewn like coins of gold;

مدّت خمائلُها رواقَ سرادقٍ

تبدي نجوماً في سماء سواد

Whose thickets stretched a pavilion's canopy,

Revealing stars in a sky of darkness;

مذ هيَّج البلبالَ بلبلُ روضها

رقصت له الأرواحُ في الأجساد

Since its garden's nightingale stirred yearning,

Souls danced for it within their bodies—

يوماً بأحسنَ من دمشق إذا بدت

تزهو بثوب العزِّ في الأعياد

Has ever been lovelier than Damascus when she appears

Resplendent in glory's robe on feast days,

في فتيةٍ قاموا على قدم التقى

بتورعٍ وأمانةٍ وسَداد

Among young men standing on the footing of piety,

With scrupulous devotion, trustworthiness, and uprightness.

شقّوا لذاك عصا الشقاق فأصبحوا

متسابقين لطاعةٍ ورشاد

They broke the staff of discord for that, and became

Racing one another toward obedience and right guidance.

فدمشق سادت حين شادت أوّلاً

ركنَ المعالي عاليَ الأطواد

So Damascus gained preeminence when she first built

The pillar of high honors, towering above mountains.

كم من نبيٍّ زارها فتأزَّرت

منه على فضل المسيح الفادي

How many a prophet visited her, so she girded herself

Through him, relying on the grace of Christ the Redeemer.

فيها أعاد اللَهُ بولسَ مرسلاً

منه فعاد إليه خيرَ معاد

In her God made Paul a messenger anew,

From Him; so he returned to Him in the finest return.

وبها ربحناهُ رسولاً بعد أن

قد كان مضطهداً بكلِّ عناد

And there we gained him as an apostle, after

He had been a persecutor in utter obstinacy.

يا دعوةً سريةً قدسيةً

فاللَه يأمرُ والرسول ينادي

O mysterious, sacred calling!

For God commands, and the apostle calls:

قل لي فأصنعَ ما تريد فإنني

في اللَهِ خيرُ مبشِّرٍ ومناد

Tell me, and I shall do what You desire, for I am

In God the best bearer of good news and herald.

هي منبر قام الرسول برأسها

فتمسكت لنداهُ بالأعواد

She is a pulpit, at whose summit the apostle stood;

So she clung to the timbers for his bounty.

أكرم بها من دوحةٍ سُرّيّةٍ

ومكارمُ الآباء بالأجداد

How noble she is, a noble spreading tree!

And the fathers' virtues come through the forefathers.

نلنا الهدى ثم الفداءَ من الردى

هيهات ليس السرُّ بالإيلاد

We gained guidance, then redemption from death;

Far from it! The mystery is not in begetting.

من صخرةٍ شرقيةٍ قد قابلت

مرماةَ منجَى الجهبذِ النقّاد

From an eastern rock that faced

The site of escape of the learned, discerning critic,

فتَقوَّمت أعمالنا بعلومه

كتقوم الأرواح بالأجساد

Our deeds were set aright through his knowledge,

As souls are sustained by bodies.

هذي أُحادٌ من عداد مناقبٍ

جمعت فكان عدادها بأُحادِ

These are single examples from a number of virtues

That were gathered; their tally was reckoned one by one.