1. Is this the Paradise that Allah promised
The righteous, or is it Paris,

2. With flowers hanging from its branches,
Or blazing suns descending on it,

3. Is it the huris in tents of satin,
Or flirtatious beauties alluring Iblis,

4. With a thousand hues shining on fabrics,
Or is it their glow that is felt,

5. With palaces adorned with feathers
And everything desired by souls,

6. Of food and luxuries and books
And goblets shining like gems,

7. Or is it boutiques where oud is played
And furnishings and clothes are sold,

8. And behind glass windows, boutiques
Filled with exquisite wares,

9. Or pictures that captivate the mind,
So fair that Burgess is humbled,

10. Rather, perfect copies made
By a supreme artist of taste,

11. Without excess, deception or fraud,
Are those wonders or wheeled vehicles

12. Measuring lands without horses,
Or palaces whispering,

13. Transporting creatures for cheap fares,
While seated in comfort,

14. And are these gardens or a parade
Of hurs, or a place for weddings,

15. With stars dimmed by lamps atop,
Or are they suns giving it light,

16. And whichever way you turn, etiquette
And beauty enchant souls,

17. And gardens reminding of Eden's gardens
That place now aged and this a bride,

18. With thrones, and Sheba's queen beside them
A sign she never imagined,

19. With statues towering overhead
Memphis would bow before this sight,

20. Are these creations or angels
Whose beauty has captured Paris,

21. Of marble and ivory, and in it an ode
No beauty compares to this,

22. And the learned built statues
Not for bones but minds to revere,

23. And for great men, lofty buildings
Without flaw or defect,

24. They worshipped knowledge and beauty, and shone
A nation where perfection lies,

25. Thousands beneath Paris flow
And thousands above soar,

26. And thousands of creatures move
Or sit still through its quarters,

27. Thousands pursue vanity and folly
While thousands find books as friends,

28. Thousands hurry to churches
Whenever bells call to prayer,

29. And thousands rush to livelihood
While all other pace is nonsense,

30. And thousands on ships seem
As if naught but rivers remain,

31. Schools filled with thousands
And sciences taught in each,

32. Theaters like palaces
While fraud builds facades,

33. Eloquence and literature manifest
Till Talees bows to them,

34. And industry attained perfection
With inventions filling books,

35. Palaces of kings are gathering places
Where lamps and chandeliers glow,

36. All ancient things display
Their secrets to the keen of mind,

37. The creations of ancients revealed
Safe from being sealed,

38. A palace that was once oppression's den
Is now justice and law's domain,

39. And palaces where knowledge rings
Be the speaker pagan or priest,

40. So believers have no distinction
From the heathens or sacred,

41. Rulers here are Jewish, Christian, Shia, Magus
Justice equalized them all,

42. Knowledge is not sold for wealth
Rather souls are given for it,

43. None esteemed knowledge like them
Or scorned wealth like they do,

44. None allied ignorance for centuries
Like those who left it to rot,

45. Fortune divided fates, some blissful
Others doomed and cursed,

46. The lands too, some hellish swamps
Others heavenly oasis,

47. We vie in knowledge while they vie
In guile and trickery,

48. None circulated nonsense among them
Like these peddlers of gossip,

49. Nowhere did you walk except
Knowledge called me its founder,

50. Any beauty seen is from me
Without me, its light is darkness,

51. My throne in it, a lofty throne
Paris worshipped over the world,

52. Tongues cannot encompass its beauty
Felt by senses and seen by eyes,

53. Words desert me in my verse
And defy me when describing it,

54. Everything in Paris is poetry and beauty
A miracle, precious perfection,

55. Everyone tastes the beauty of knowledge
Even the wicked and vile,

56. Every female has the merit of knowledge and virtue
Heads bow to them in respect,

57. No coquette fails to appreciate poetry
Blessed is such a companion!

58. Every flaw erased but ignorance
It is hellfire and sacrilege,

59. We vie in knowledge while they vie
In cunning and trickery,

60. Paris is not Paradise promised by God,
But by its beauty almost seems so!