1. With inquiring care he says to me,
With affection and kindness of sympathy,

2. "What led you to this place, Ukbara,
And turned you from a homeland with doors barred?

3. You left Bab al-Karkh though it was an end
Of perfect beauty, horizons near and far.

4. Of every refined and learned man,
Good morals, pure lineage, that is what you are.

5. I said: “I gained here esteem of use,
And learned the ways of flawed character.

6. So I turned from those I knew the path of,
To people of manners free of all that mar."