1. By Allah, O breezes of the Nile at dawn
Do you have any news of the loved ones?

2. I know you with a knowledge I do not alter
Neither in darkness, nor in light and blossoms

3. From some of what beauty has touched the faces with
Between the brow, the hairline, and the hair

4. So have you caught, during your wandering, some fragrance
From the braids, or perfume from the hairpins?

5. You arouse in me a dormant anguish in my heart
And if a breeze irritates the wound, it festers

6. I recalled Egypt, and whom I love, and our gathering
On the island, between bridge and river

7. And today I grew gray, and the horizons are faded
And the sun grows yellowish, flowing downhill

8. And the palms are clad in clouds, you'd think them
Brides in dresses of blue

9. And nothing saddened me except the sound of a waterwheel
Greeting the night with lament and tears

10. Passion left of it only its ribs
And tears like rain pouring heavily

11. Stingy with her water, if asked
To help a brother of longing, she would not consent

12. On a night of the days of time, blessed
Erasing all sin except the unforgiven

13. She was chaste, and passion in it was chaste, and was won by
The chastity of hints, words, and glances

14. She stayed and stayed tenderly about us and pleased
Three between hearing of love and sight

15. By Allah, the star was our fourth
Had the star been mentioned after the moon in the story

16. And she was fair to us, so it's unfair to reprimand her
For being too long or too brief

17. Leave after the saliva of one you love and his words
What's said of the wineglass or what's said of the lute strings

18. And don't mind a treasure after its smile
The most precious jewels are those you were given as gifts

19. And nothing kept me in check except the words of a critic
"What's with Ahmad, no composure and no settling?"

20. Why not rise above foolishness and play
Small things entice the soul into smallness

21. So I said to glory my poems are led
And in my madness is loftiness, not baseness or flightiness

22. Precious Egypt, why can't I bid her farewell
A farewell preserving the pact, reminding

23. I left in her the kittens between Zaghrab
And amulets, never to rise or take flight

24. I entrusted them to God's eyes to guard them
And they entrusted me to God's shade among mankind