Welcome,أهلا بك, bi xêr hatî

Strangers knocking on our door

Let them in, offer them friendship.

We say,a flower for all the world for you

A forget-me-not for your haunted look,

Skin stretched tight as light.

We will offer you delphiniums for memory,

Lilies for your sister's child,

Orchids for the night grown wild.

When you bless us by your presence

You will bring light to this dark, twisted island.

With your thin strange tongue

That does not belong

Anywhere.

The very gods of earth and air

Will howl you through our long slow afternoons

Of unsteady silence and self-absorbed complacency.

When you arrive you will see many roses of the morning.

We will give you our palaces to live in.

You will smell the sweet, sweet scent of stock on summer afternoons

When you will be reminded of beautiful Aleppo before the war.

Your memories, children, kindnesses

Let them all bless us, let them all bloom.