1. To fulfill my covenant or fade in my promise
I stood to greet my friends and those I love

2. I stood to greet an Arab nation
Through which we discern right from wrong and find guidance

3. Welcome to the garden of love and purity
Welcome when happy or when visiting me

4. A poet stirred me in Rustamiya
With the same passions inside me and the same yearning

5. With a burning desire for Layla kindled from passion
And within me a flame that will not quench from love of Hind

6. I promised her safety from my love-sickness for I fear
The malady of passion may prove contagious

7. And his song reminded me of the days of my youth
Peace upon the days of youth in the highlands of Najd

8. His love is for the banks of the Tigris
While mine is for the Nile and the Upper Egypt

9. Think not his mind alone has wandered
Nor think I am drunken in passion all by myself

10. Two martyrs - one with his eyes set on apparitions
The other with loosened veins from the dagger's blade

11. Both slain - one from an unforeseen encounter
The other from a planned and promised tryst

12. One a martyr who complains of the wounds of sweet honey
The other a slain man who complains of the stings of roses

13. Slain by melodies - blame me not for I
Am slain by the songs of Oum Kalthoum that heal no wound

14. Peace upon those tunes for they are
Tunes inspired by the days of youth and fervor