1. The pilgrims called on Allah, begging His forgiveness
In Mecca one day that He may wipe out her sins

2. And I called out: "O Lord, my first request
Is for Layla, then You are her guardian."

3. For if I gain Layla in my life, never
Would a servant turn to God in repentance as I repent.

4. I shy from You in reverence, and I have no
Power over You, but to please my beloved.

5. And my soul did not abandon You, O night, but
Your share of her grew less though she still loves you.

6. Yet they—O night of union—are obsessed
With saying "When you come, here is her lover."

7. Are there nights like ours, with their returns
To us, and days of sweetness transformed?

8. When she and the folk of al-‘Amriya were neighbors,
Where an-Naqa, its ridge adjacent her dune.

9. When her waters no longer mourned Suwaqa
As a sea, nor did its banks there fear a flood.

10. When she was not raised in Umm ‘Amr’s care, nor raised
Among folk whose eyes I'd guard against her harm.

11. She accused me of a crime as though she
Would, in naming my sin, absolve her own.