1. Oh how she knocked on our door, like the tinkling of her anklet,
Her pearls had cooled in her throat from the necklace she wore,

2. She stirred desire in my longing heart,
I removed sadness from my eyelids overwhelmed by her,

3. She did not stop until the darkness dissipated,
The watchmen hastened the dawn to catch sight of her,

4. The grayness of dawn spread its branches,
The eyelids of night lowered from its shining radiance,

5. She traveled the plateau of Najd together on her camel litter,
Her scent was only perceived from the hem of her cloak,

6. I resorted to my tears as they flowed,
But they did not avail the descent of my cheek from her line,

7. I wet my cheek while anguish boiled in my heart,
And how much rain has fallen short of a thirsty land?

8. For Layla has an abode in my heart,
Where I fear the watcher will strike her with his arrow,

9. Though if Layla hits or misses rarely
Have we thanked her or blamed her if she misses,

10. It was as if after her phantom departed,
My pillow turned into a funeral dress she clothed me in.

11. So shall I have another nighttime visitation,
Woe to me, whoever intends the water of her riverbank!

12. If she had made my soul the reward for her journey
What value has my soul in fulfilling her condition?

13. Perhaps a time will come when her affection returns
And hardened hearts become content after her discontent

14. Perhaps after the long night, morning will follow
And the house of the beloved will draw near after its remoteness

15. By God, no messenger can bring us together,
The Lord of might gives the garb of distance its easiest folding,

16. And I said when the caravan of yearning opposed me
And it sped with the guide into my rugged terrain:

17. It was as if molded bracelets in their hands
If the gloom of night startles with its clamor,

18. To where is the journey of the doe under the feet of her camel?
The door of the trusted Prince is the best of her halting places!

19. So go into the courtyard of the white shining Majid
Whose houses of glory have its prime and heart,

20. Who is generous, if the rich pass by his hearing,
He turns from the smoothness of fingers grasping it,

21. Praiseworthy in the plain and ruggedness of time,
And steadfast against the injustice of nights and their justice.

22. So how many goals, O son of noblemen, have you attained
Atop a difficult ledge none have marked before you?

23. And how many gifts have you given, substantial,
But I have spread them, not concealing any!

24. I thanked - so increase for us your provision,
Lasting through the graying of nights and their youth!

25. And grant me through some circumstance after wealth you gave me,
For no knot except you can untie it!

26. For I am attributed in affection to you
And pride of all mankind in the glory of its people!

27. For indeed marvelous verse flows not but through it
As the sun endures pouring down its threads

28. So bestow upon my arts lines of care
Which are a mark on the cheek of its looping tresses,

29. And weary with it the palm of your generous hand
When asked to bring wondrous great benefits!

30. For your right hand does not withhold what it possesses
Hoped for - do not stint in drawing its line!

31. So the pulling of reins does not cease in its clenching
Nor the immortalizing of praise in its extension

32. Nor the frustration of the arrogant through its expenditure
Nor the satisfying of Kings through its discipline

33. Nor when you turn the pens, have they ceased
Taking from every beauty in proper share,

34. Splitting the hearts of enviers as their rending,
And dropping the heads of deviants without care!

35. No wonder it rules the eye if it flows
And cleaves to parchment corners of its pages!

36. For the glances of a girl are not like its motion
Nor the moles on a cheek like its dots!

37. So the star of your grandfather does not cease rising
When the horses of the people have plunged down steep

38. And I hope to see ascend for you a state
Prolonging the lips of people serving its extension!