1. يا عُمرَ نصرٍ لقد هيجتَ ساكنةً

    هاجت بلابِلَ صَبٍّ بعد إقصارِ

    O monastery of Nasr, you have indeed stirred a dormant passion,

    rousing a lovesick man's anguish after a lull.

  2. للّه هاتفةٌ هبَّت مرجعةً

    زبورَ داودَ طوراً بعد أطوار

    How wondrous the singer who rose, intoning

    David's Psalms, time after time.

  3. يحثها دالقٌ بالقدس محتنكٌ

    من الأساقف مزموراً بمزمار

    A cloaked man, well versed in holy rites, urges her on,

    one of the bishops, with a psalm played on a flute.

  4. عجت أساقفها في بيت مذبحها

    وعج رهبانها في عرصةِ الدارِ

    Its bishops raised their voices in its altar-chamber,

    and its monks cried aloud in the courtyard of the house.

  5. خمارُ حانتها إن زرت حانته

    أذكى مجامرَها بالعُودِ والغَارِ

    The wine-seller of its tavern, if you visit his tavern,

    kindles its incense-braziers with aloeswood and laurel.

  6. يهتزُّ كالغصنِ في سُلبٍ مُسوَّدةٍ

    كأنَّ دارِسَها جسمٌ من القارِ

    He sways like a bough in black-dyed robes,

    as though their worn fabric were a mass of pitch.

  7. تُلهيك رِيقتُه عن طيب خمرته

    سقيا لذاك جنى من ريقِ خَمَّارِ

    His mouth's moisture distracts you from the savor of his wine.

    Blessings on that fruit from a wine-seller's saliva!

  8. أغرى القلوبَ به ألحاظُ ساجيةٍ

    مرهاءَ تطرِف عن أجفانِ سحَّار

    The glances of a languid eye have drawn hearts to him—

    bare of kohl, blinking from beneath a sorcerer's lids.