1. I entered Asyut, hopes raging within me
And awakening the passion in my innermost being

2. I entered asking about a soul entrusted to me
Before existence, eons and eons ago

3. There was news of it in the unseen among our whims
Cloaked between flowers and branches

4. What are Asyut's secrets and charm
To a lover enchanted by poetry's beauty

5. I wander searching for my heart and its torment
Among those whose hearts are pure and helped me

6. A vicious illness befell him and took his life
He who was like a rose in the garden bed

7. I entered Asyut, healing in its sunrise
Only to leave bearing my sorrows and sadness

8. O soul, do not despair, for every estrangement
Will soon disappear into oblivion

9. God will never accept that a lad be wronged
Who is poetry embodied in an artist's dreams

10. Your company in mine is a past I reminisced
And kept alive time and again

11. O Asyut's people, if only the birds would tell me
That you are the best solace for my heart

12. In despair for your affection, I imagine
You are a group from Aswan's folk

13. Those ruled by love's command did not fear love
In fueling the flames of my misery

14. He I came to complain of the wrong his hands wrought
Making me hostage to monastery and temples

15. This black-eyed gazelle warned me
That I am a thief from Lebanon's people

16. Asyut, my home, home of those passionate
For a poet who kills souls like a devil

17. Asyut, o town whose obsession
Inspires songs of poetry and Quran

18. Asyut, what of its blossoms and the news of their bloom
As they blaze into flames upon flames

19. O abode of roses flourishing in their buds
A longing that stirs my youth and sorrows

20. A greeting composed by my essence and blood
Like flowers blossoming in the dreams of April

21. O Asyut's people, no trace of you will remain
If you reject and deny my faith

22. In despair for you, enthralled,
I spend my nights and days in misery and turmoil

23. Asyut's treasurer, which night did we enjoy
The night we met in the land of humans and jinn

24. Asyut's treasurer, a hand returned me to you
Returning the stranger to his homeland

25. Asyut's treasurer, do you know what the hand of separation did
To the heart of the ardent, loving youth

26. Egypt's bank is not, though its fury persists,
More heartbreaking than you to the suffering lad

27. O Egypt's bank, tell me, how do you captivate me
And become the judge of my days

28. Rashdi, whom I told poetry, vexes me
Writing in ink from moment to moment

29. In my abundant love for him, I long for his rebuke
Upon a generous-spirited, passionate lover

30. God never created the like of his features
Among the houris and lads of Heaven

31. When I sit with him, I almost mistake him
For an angel dressed in devil's robes

32. Bring the accounts, doctor, hurry
If you don't pay up, I have one or two things to say

33. He says this unaware of how two eyes have confounded me
With magic not granted to someone striking

34. I will pay the debt in a day or in a year
If you see me in the year of dreams addressing you