1. Oh stop, even briefly, at the sand dunes
Though you have made a firm resolve to depart

2. Your tears have been held back for ages
What is safe from the harm of time?

3. When a man weeps from anguish
He cannot be blamed for crying at the sand dunes

4. I woke longing for her ruins
Prostrate like one made drunk with cloves

5. He is man, created from dust
Long before he was delicately formed

6. I ask all that is in the meadows and find
No echo in it to quench my thirst

7. For the sands have woven over it
Dunes of gold, lengthwise and widthwise

8. I wet its burial grounds with the tears of my eyes
While my body dried from the burning embers

9. I was patient with separation, so my patience weakened
And this weakness left me wailing

10. Had I sought another love to console me
But her town was beautiful patience to me

11. When I think of our separation, it makes
My other troubles seem trivial

12. Where do friends wander at dawn?
Did they pitch their tents or the barren lands?

13. Will the time of their union return so I stop
Hearing people say they departed?

14. I was blessed to meet the fawn's eyes
Without encountering the spy or slanderer

15. On the basis of loyalty I built my love
Steadfast, it will neither change nor pass

16. Is there anyone who knows my agony, Effendi?
Is there anyone who pities a heart grown old?

17. The rustling of leaves troubles me at night
As if I am eulogizing her with it

18. I know not if the night passes
Bringing instead of it a morn

19. It is as if my worries in Effendi's departure
Will never be removed

20. It is as if my heart and breast
Are restless with its pining

21. It is as if it has the same madness
That makes me follow it shamefully

22. So I followed it without any self-control
Bearing the heavy burden of passion

23. Gently, O churner of it, gently
I have tasked it with a difficult matter

24. She has a right over us to be cautious
And respected wherever she abides

25. They are the carriers of our tomorrow
And the ones who befriend us

26. It is the vast sea to those who seek it
But it was a sweet Salsabil to me

27. Have you not seen how it teems with rhymes
That intoxicate the minds of poets?

28. It satisfies all who are thirsty
And heals all who are sick

29. Noble are its traits that dazzle you
And make you forget the noble man and woman

30. You find in it much said, very much said
And gain from it plenty, oh plenty

31. When does it speak to adorn itself beautifully
And rise above the throne gloriously?

32. Broad of chest, containing all knowledge
Even if its issues fill the barren lands

33. Its excellent answers at dawn and dusk
Are clear to whoever contemplates it a while

34. When it aims for its goal steadfastly
Say: It has come to do the impossible

35. My status is too low to praise it
Had it not been for its forbearance, my words would cease

36. Its awe made me silent for a time
In which I preferred stillness

37. I imagined I was secure in it
While my thoughts were devoid of any maturity

38. To me, the matching of equals is a duty
That will never be impossible

39. I wished to present it with a poem
That would be a fitting guide for its verse

40. But I failed miserably and shamed myself
By avoiding the one far away or inclining away

41. By Allah, its generosity made me ashamed
And its virtues silenced me, astonished

42. I spent the night thinking of it and woke up
Composing long love poems about it

43. So may my inadequacy be excused
If it finds acceptance in its presence

44. My ambition and love for it are great
I consider this proof of its forgiveness to me

45. When I decided to please fate
I took its praises as a means

46. Praising the virtues of Egypt sufficed me
So to add more would be superfluous

47. They have engaged in eloquence and meaning
So each of them emerged as genuine

48. The talents of its people compose poetry
And the least of them have significant sayings

49. Such is the fortune of some people, little
And others, plentiful