1. I came to Baghdad with an aching heart,
Will my sorrows be relieved and my illness cured?

2. I left behind the dark misfortunes in Egypt and headed out,
The arrows from dark eyes pierce my insides.

3. I left behind smoke that if I wanted to repel
With the strength of my arms spread wide, it would vanish.

4. Yet I came to a fire that will scorch my wings
And melt my ribs and crush my guts.

5. Alas, my heart, time has bitten it so it is seared
By the blade of oppressors, injustice and tyranny.

6. I heard doves cooing, cheering me
With their yearning like my companions in Egypt, those I miss.

7. They handed me over, love did not pardon them,
To a night laden with sorrow and gloom.

8. I reminisce about them in my imagination while my heart knows
That I am with a cup of tears dyed red.

9. I drank sorrow undiluted so my tears flowed
Divulging my love tales and my troubles.

10. I am a wounded bird, his misery throws him
Between fire and ashes in his wretchedness.

11. If I live, my wounds hurt me, and if I die
The fires of enemies roast me in their flames.

12. My loved ones in Egypt, come to me, I
Bid farewell in Baghdad to my joy and friends.

13. Come aid me against desolation and grief
For nothing remains of me but specters of ruin.

14. Come let me tell you, for in my heart there is agony,
It is overwhelming, raging inside like a reed pipe.

15. My loved ones in Egypt, do I have loved ones?
My loved ones in Egypt, come O loved ones!

16. Come to Baghdad and meet your brother,
Slain by sorrows, moaning and writhing.

17. Come see me tossed by waves of passion,
Which demolish my being and wreck my ships.

18. Love absolved you, Baghdad, I lived heedlessly,
Spending my days engrossed with Layla and black-eyed beauties.

19. So how did I today fall captive to a girl
Bewitching, captivating, with a mouth like a flower.

20. I plead to her eyes with mine and passion
Spreads fever in my heart and limbs.

21. And I call to witness the specters of paradise, if they appear
They joke and toy with my dreams and passions.

22. And I feel the fires of hell if she passes,
Intent on my ruin and exclusion after me.

23. I hide my obsession from her family, if they knew
Their spirits would hover by the riverbank for me.

24. To love I complain of her, for my path is blocked,
And after parting, my loved ones abandoned me.

25. To love I complain of her, without it, I would not
Become a confidante of worries that rend me.

26. Nay, to God alone I complain, to Him I entrust
My sorrows caused by her and my fortunes.

27. O Lord, save me, for you have cast me
With a heart amid loved ones ever weeping.

28. O Lord, do not act thus, for I see passion
Breathing into the heart the spirit of the enamored.

29. I love the inferno of ecstasy, so cast my firewood
Upon its glowing embers, raging and flaming.

30. I love my misery in love, though it
Consumes me like the blossoms of a lofty tree.

31. O creator of the blazing fire, draw me to it,
Let me stay there with my prayers and pleadings.

32. I love you, my Lord, will you intercede for me
To a meadow on the banks of the Tigris, emerald and flowery.

33. I saw my annihilation in you when I saw her
Trying to lead me astray and seeking my demise.

34. And who are you, my Lord? Answer me, for I
Saw you in beauty, flowers and water.

35. I am the charmer, spellbound, so have mercy on my affliction,
And destine for me the expanses of paradise to roam in.

36. And do not leave me in the eternal garden without a passion
For a girl unwise, who knows no gentleness or calm.

37. I love tumult in the garden itself, may I
In the abode of eternity forsake my languor.

38. Blessed are the gardens without any yearning,
Except a spot in the barren wilderness of death.

39. The feeble of spirit love their companions in eternity,
To an assured beauty, pure and artless.

40. And I recite in the gardens, if you taste comfort there,
The playgrounds of folly, danger and temptation.

41. My imaginings stray into obscure places,
And I incline towards a desolate field, devoid of company.

42. Truly, I was wretched in Egypt, so what
Will I reap in Baghdad, O culmination of my misery?

43. Is this my reward in Iraq and its love?
Is this my reward for my soul and my upbringing?

44. My friends, Baghdad is not my comfort, even if
The hearts of its maidens are steps for my tears.

45. My friends, take me back to Egypt, I see
Injustice in Baghdad unleashing afflictions.

46. The rain watered my days in Hulwan and sated
The playgrounds of my dreams there and my passions.

47. The breezes of Hama never betrayed me,
Their drink poured by the spring of love in cups of light.

48. By God, my pact with Zamalek was nothing
But glimpses that delighted me and lights that shone.

49. I nested on its branch, a sapling, and opened
Were its blooms in the shade of lush green leaves.

50. And where in New Egypt was my drinking place,
And where was my resting place in its protection and sleep?

51. I tasted its delicacies without knowing they were,
For their rarity in life, flowers of the desert.

52. My loved ones in New Egypt, hasten,
For around the Tigris, illnesses have slain me.

53. Will you know that I, though I am
On the riverbank, drink my tears?

54. Take me to you, O friends, I fear
My demise and death in Baghdad.

55. I fear the dark eyes, so may love have mercy
On the desolation of my family when I die.

56. I reminisce about my loved ones, in truth I
Fear the horrors my enemies unleashed.

57. O Tigris, speak, for long has your cooing
Delayed the unburdening of my lament.

58. Your roses revived my torment,
And my sorrow scorched me and multiplied my illnesses.

59. Your sweet roses sated others while I found
In my tremendous affliction only thorns and brushwood.

60. Some delighted in your banks, enjoying bliss,
While I poured out my sorrows on your gushing waters.

61. O Tigris, where is love? Say, for I have
Tossed between two fires, malice and hatred.

62. O Tigris, where is light? Say, for I
Seek out on your bank lamps for my darkness.

63. O Tigris, show me my estrangement and heal me,
Raving madly in my country at my wretchedness.

64. O Tigris, you are the Nile in appearance and turbidity,
So how will my insides escape the two fires?

65. Destinies led me to you, arranged cleverly
To destroy me and excel in tormenting me.

66. O Tigris, comfort me, for a guest has rights
To provisions, love, and intimacy if you wish.

67. Your foaming waves raged so my torment overflowed
And awakened my passions and confused my desires.

68. I stood at the bridge refusing, for I was not
But one whispering in the ears of the deaf and mute.

69. I stood begging it without knowing I
Was recording my dreams on the surface of the water.

70. To where does this water flow, while around it
Fires of drought in the land of irrigation so barren?

71. My tears flowed into it but did not sate it,
Could my tears be anything but specters of dew?

72. The dark misfortunes inflamed me some, leaving
No dreams for the despairing when seeking to weep.

73. Answer me, O direction of the marshes, I
Upon my elevation in life was struck by afflictions.

74. You flowed arrogantly but did not enrich a nation
Yearning in drought for water skins and vessels.

75. Those before cried around you ages, did they see
Beside your foaming waves, a moment of listening?

76. Iraq complained of drought, and you were unmoved,
Seeking my share, I found no irrigation from you.

77. Do you, O direction of marshes, have a greeting
For people on your banks, lively and friendly?

78. You flow to the turbulent sea foolishly
While loved ones thirsting in Iraq are perish.

79. Your father the rain of generosity, his munificence reaches
Every land in the two Iraqs equally.

80. So from whom did you learn stinginess, O neighbor of youths
Who are the flowing Euphrates in the belly of the valley?

81. The flowers complained on your banks, so be ashamed and save them
From the oppressive thirst and from the water serpent.

82. You flowed aimlessly without purpose
Adorned ambiguously by the fates and fortunes.

83. So let me blame you, for I was not
But a poet praising, blaming, and composing.

84. Are you the one from whom the thirsty recoil,
To take refuge in a cavity on the shore, raging?

85. Are you the one who waters seas while around you
Flowers bloom in a plain nurtured by a cloud's rain?

86. We stood on your banks complaining of our pain
To the beats of drums, lutes and flutes .

87. So where are the ample gifts, O abundant grace,
Laden with good, evil, altogether?

88. I loved my misery in you, for I
Love my misery among loved ones.

89. Baghdad, do you know I am bidding farewell,
And the poisons of parting scorch my insides?

90. Your roses are delightful. I battle passion
And the tears of steadfast friends most loyal.

91. Call out at the Iron Gate, bid farewell
To the remnants of a heart, gracious and kind.

92. Among them are heroes who if they wished could return me
To a garden of beautiful company and song.

93. One comes seeking an embrace but finds only
A silent rock hiding secrets and mute.

94. He returns to tame rebuke in his heart's dreams
Upon a path of separation's thorns twisting.

95. Your roses pierced me, his wounds raging,
And your generous sons became my doctors.

96. For love of you, Baghdad, and love is fiery,
I saw my annihilation in you as vivification.

97. You bestowed your beauty upon the world which then inclined,
Imagining in your sweetness, beauty and radiance.

98. Some people will recall me entrusted to you,
Who love the shadows of my pain and torment.

99. My adversaries will in time become loved ones,
Circulating gratefully the best of my news.

100. The expanses of the two rivers will recall a poet
Whose hidden pearls of verse are chaste.

101. Some will ask "Who is the pure, the blessed one?"
While my body is buried in a barren desert.

102. If they ask about me, my tomb is in Egypt,
While above the land of Baghdad my passions frolic.

103. A Ghidda will remember me, one who is intimate,
I confided in him my love troubles and misery.

104. Egypt will remember me, though its heart
Was nothing but a rock on the Nile's bank, smooth.

105. To God I complain of the injustice of fate and its caprice,
And in God the Clement I place my trust.