ألست ترى الأوضاح في دهمة الدجى

ألست ترى الأوضاح في دهمة الدجى

ومنشؤها بالناظرين رفيقُ

ومنشؤها بالناظرين رفيقُ

Do you not see the white gleams in the blackness of night,

Do you not see the lights in the darkness of night

And their source is gentle to the beholders?

Whose origin is in the beholders a companion

دخاناً سخامي الصفات شراره

دخاناً سخامي الصفات شراره

بروق وعقد الربح فيه وثيق

بروق وعقد الربح فيه وثيق

Smoke, soot-black in character, whose sparks

Smoke of lofty qualities, its sparks

Are lightning flashes, and profit’s bond within it is secure;

Lightning and the knot of profit in it tight

وليلا كيوم الوصل أما رياضه

وليلا كيوم الوصل أما رياضه

فزهر وأما مسكه ففتيق

فزهر وأما مسكه ففتيق

And a night like the day of reunion—as for its gardens,

And night like the day of union, as for its meadows

They are blossoms; and as for its musk, it is unsealed.

Flowers and as for its musk youthful

وبغداد بحر ساحلاه جواهر

وبغداد بحر ساحلاه جواهر

ودجلة روض طرتاه شقيق

ودجلة روض طرتاه شقيق

And Baghdad is a sea whose two shores are jewels,

And Baghdad a sea its coast gems

And the Tigris a garden whose two borders are red anemones.

And the Tigris a garden its branches twin

وقد صار ياقوتاً حصاها وعنبراً

وقد صار ياقوتاً حصاها وعنبراً

ثراها وأمسى الماء وهو رحيق

ثراها وأمسى الماء وهو رحيق

And its pebbles have turned to rubies, and to ambergris

And its pebbles have become ruby and its soil amber

Its soil; and the water has become pure wine.

And the water has become while it is pure wine