1. I revisit those nights as in their era
To reunite, or is my return no longer hoped for?

2. And the company of people whose loss
I donned mourning garments, now tattered.

3. When a glimmer toward Baghdad appears to me
My eyelids contract and my sighs take flight.

4. Though long gone, if the clouds deny what transpired
Tears compel them to admit what came to pass.

5. Every cloud watered Baghdad’s side
Imitating the tears of the lovesick, their swell.

6. Alliances of human gazelles I made
Their carers agreed not to cure their afflicted.

7. With them the soul finds peace, the aversion recedes
As the resident’s heart discovers company.

8. Every heart yearns as if
Its fragments were joined on their meadows.

9. All her nights were the era of youth.
Each season in her presence, springtime.

10. I remained fate’s servant, reluctantly obeying
As it led me by its own schemes.

11. When I left the palace, my delight’s palace
Despondent crowds dispersed from me.

12. To a house where yearning is consoled
And safe from the terrors of events.

13. In it a theater for the eye in what pleases it
And a retreat for the soul from what alarms it.

14. Each heart sees in it what gladdens it
When its trees and crops have blossomed.

15. As if the gurgling water in its sides
Were thunder receiving a gentle drizzle.

16. When the wind struck it and for it unfurled
The mantle of a full moon, parting and gathering it.

17. I saw between suits of armor swords
Gilded, overwhelming eyes with their brightness.

18. Its points formed by the shining full moon.
Its suits of armor woven by the breaths of wind.

19. Our life there was pure, and due to its excellence,
Souls almost mingled with it, if able.