1. The radiance of Nudhar has departed, leaving us no pleasant life,
And she has left sorrow and grief in my heart,

2. So my soul found no condition to delight it,
Nor did my eyes behold beauty after her.

3. Nudhar was to us a spirit by which we lived,
Reviving the noblest sense, the eye and the ear,

4. Hearing her speech gathering pearls,
And sight from her glance made drunk with beauty.

5. She took comfort in reciting the Quran,
Relating its verses and then its traditions.

6. And she showed kindness to the poor and destitute,
Giving to them in secret, not seeking fame.

7. Young men, enamored of her beauty and grace,
Throng here and there to win her.

8. But her mind is set on earning reward
And gaining knowledge to cleanse all of us.

9. Jurisprudence, grammar, history and knowledge,
With the glances of thought striving for the sciences.

10. God has enlightened her insight with piety,
So she has not wasted her time on other things.

11. She made the pilgrimage and visited the Messenger of God, then came
To Egypt, achieving merit and fair praise.

12. An eloquence refined by grammar,
So you’ll see in it neither solecism nor awkwardness.

13. She trains the sight of one who looks with coils of braids in
The field of horses obedient to her, not rebellious.

14. A stallion paces on its head for her in the hippodrome,
Then if it runs she pulls on its lead rein.

15. Its top goes down when it rises from below,
Yet the ways of Time with us are the ugliest ways.