1. The desert of Sa'daa is grazing land for the eyes,
In it lions have arenas for fighting.

2. Deserts fear its outskirts,
And hearts hope for safety there.

3. In them the suns of beauty set as strangers,
And in them the moons of good fortune rise.

4. I disobeyed the prohibitions of the warner willingly,
For the command of passion - and youth is disobedient and obedient.

5. I spent my youth in them as a companion,
And grew old while the vigour of youth was still my companion.

6. She who combines favour and beauty -
My heart combines there the branches and sadness.

7. For the lightning of her white cheeks from carnelian lips
Lightnings with carnelian have dazzled me.

8. When you smell it from her braided hair,
And she wipes it with that, the tears flow.

9. If Layla is distant and unwilling out of coquetry,
I still hope for her gentle ways.

10. The most delicious thing a passionate man tastes
Is when she promises him hopes of approach.

11. The apparition of her imagination recurs to me with estrangement,
Yet I am content with the apparition of fantasies.

12. A hidden meaning I have hidden in my love for her
And my love everywhere in the wilderness is noised abroad.

13. Her sulkiness in the morning veils her from us
While her meanings become clear to us through the veils.

14. So by some of her branches the night of error sets forth
And by some of her separating the dawn of guidance rises.

15. With some of her meanings the heart has become perplexed
And that part which the hearing hears is the easiest.

16. How long can I talk misleadingly to people about my love for her?
And for how long can I defend myself from censure concerning her?

17. People are but one in seeking her.
Many guides are lost in the quest.

18. She is the essence and the meaning in her real self,
While counting her names occurs through the name.

19. The dark nights of spears have protected her mystery and veiled
Her with white veils of Numeir's unsheathed swords.

20. How can the humble aspire to her sea of generosity -
A cousin whose cousins have been forbidden by the laws?