1. Towards the abode of Layla we went to greet her,
Yes, and to ask about some of her family.

2. O bending branch that the wind drew away in its joy,
It would spend the night spreading it out and folding it.

3. You remain in rainy garments because of the rain,
Lightning illuminates you at times and darkens you at times.

4. The scent of its gentle rain wafts in your meadows
Or makes its way through your valleys in the morning.

5. Indeed the stingy one did not favor her asker
On the day of prosperity, nor did she hear her suitor.

6. She would pass by showing affection, whether near or far,
So separation keeps her away while the house brings her near.

7. If not for the blackness of chastity that does not deliver me
To prohibition, my soul would have frequented her abodes.

8. I have often frequented the beautiful, chaste beloved
And she captivates me while I captivate her.

9. On a night whose end the dawn does not attain,
I clung to the wind, quenching it and being quenched by it.

10. I gave it a glance of darting eyes, being gentle,
I drank wine from her hand, and from her mouth.

11. O you who saw the blessed beauty and her sight,
And the intimate ones when their meanings shone.

12. She suffices by her excellence in rank,
She is counted as one, and the sea as her second.

13. Why does the Tigris compete with the Euphrates in beauty,
At times surpassing it and at times vying with it?

14. Does it not see the protectors of Islam hugging it
Lest it be blamed and the builder of glory builds it?

15. As if the jinn of Solomon, who submitted
To its perfection, were keen in its meanings.

16. If Bilqis had walked by its façade,
She would have said it resembles an illustration.

17. The troops of water plunge into it hastily
Like steeds emerging from the rope of its channel.

18. As if white silver, molten
From ingots, flows in its conduits.

19. When the morning wind rises over it, it shows it knots
Like polished jewels on its banks.

20. So the radiance of the sun sometimes makes it smile
And the downpour of rain sometimes makes it weep.

21. When the stars appear on its sides at night
You would think the sky was mounted within it.

22. The confined fish cannot attain its extent
Due to the distance between its furthest and nearest parts.

23. Fish swim in its middle with fins
Like birds fluttering in clear air.

24. They have a spacious basin in its depths
And an abyss in its heights.

25. Figures resembling dolphins accompany it
With glancing eyes corresponding to it.

26. Its farthest orchards are enriched by seeing it,
Independent of clouds dispersing its isolation.

27. As if when it surged in its flow,
The hand of the Caliph guided its course.

28. And it increased its adornment after its adornment
That his name is called among its names.

29. Surrounded by gardens that you still see
The feathers of peacocks relating it and conversing with it.

30. And two hills like two forelocks have become
One rising with the elevation of the other.

31. When the efforts of the Commander of the Faithful appear
To describers, no description attains it.

32. Indeed when its pulpit shook with Ja'far
It was given the utmost of its wishes.

33. He showed humility when he attained it trepidously
And it attained him, so it was perplexed by him.

34. When the world shone before him in its beauty,
It saw its own beauties equal to him.

35. O son of the desolate lands whose desolation
Is at the peak of glory, higher than its summits.

36. God did not waste in nomad or settled lands
A populace whose caretaker you are through your kindness.

37. A nation which the ugliness of tyranny provoked
For so long, and now the beauty of justice satisfies it.

38. You have bestowed upon it gifts which increased
Its exalted ones, and extolled the name of generosity.

39. You remain a sea of our wellbeing, so how could it be now
When we have met you, and you possess the world and all within it?

40. God gave it to you rightfully, for He saw you
Deserving, while you distribute it by the right of God.