ما أحيلي ليلى وما أبهاها

خطف القلب يا هذيم هواها

How sweet Layla is, and how radiant she is!

Love for her stole the heart, O Hudhaym.

كلما لألأ البوارق ليلاً

قلت ليلى انجلت ولاح سناها

Whenever lightning flashes glitter at night,

I say, "Layla has appeared, and her radiance shines."

وإذا ما بدت صباحاً بمرطٍ

خلتها الشمس تنجلي وضحيها

And when she appears in the morning in a mantle,

I take her for the sun unveiling itself with its morning glow.

لو تراني إذا ترنم حادٍ

باسم ليلى لقلت ذا الصب تاها

If you saw me when a camel-driver sings

Layla's name, you would say, "This lovesick man has lost his way."

أنا لم أعشق الصابح إذا لا

ح بمجلى بروزه لولاها

I would not have loved the radiant one when it shone

in the splendor of its emergence, were it not for her.

ورفاقٍ سريت فيهم ثقيلاً

والبوادي هز القلوب دجاها

And with companions I traveled by night, weighed down,

while the deserts' darkness shook the hearts.

تبتغي كلنا مواطن ليلى

وعيون الأعيان ما أسخاها

All of us seek Layla's dwelling places,

and the eyes of the notables—how generous they are!

تتداعى صرعى غرام ووجدٍ

إن قطعنا آهاً نواصل آها

They collapse, struck down by passion and ecstasy;

if we cut short one "ah," we continue with another "ah."

وبتلك التلال أصناف وردٍ

خطف القل لونها وشذاها

And on those hills are varieties of roses;

their color and fragrance stole the heart.

وبقاعٌ آرامها تترامى

حول ليلى طوافةً بخباها

And expanses whose white gazelles dart about,

around Layla, circling her tent.

ريمةٌ تجعل الفحول حيارى

وأسود الغابات من قتلاها

A white gazelle who leaves mighty males bewildered,

and the lions of the forests are among her slain.

أهلها الساكنون بطحاء سلعٍ

حي سلعاً وقدسن بطحاها

Her people dwell on the gravel plain of Salʿ;

salute Salʿ, and hallow its gravel plain!

تتدلى القلوب شوقاً إليها

يا رعةى اللَه حيها ورعاها

Hearts hang suspended in longing for her.

O, may God tend her clan and watch over her!

قد تراها الأبصار كالرقعة الخض

راء فيها مسطرٌ معناها

Eyes may see her as a green page,

on which her meaning is inscribed.

فهنيئاً لمهجةٍ عشقتها

وهنيئاً لكل عينٍ تراها

So joy to a heart that has loved her,

and joy to every eye that sees her!

يا لتلك الطلول كم هام لهفا

مغرمٌ راح والهاً يهواها

Ah, those ruins! How many have wandered in anguish—

lovers gone distraught, enamored of them!

وبروج المحب ما أشوق الص

ب إليها قلباً وما أزهاها

And the lover's towers—how the lovesick one yearns

for them in his heart, and how resplendent they are!

تترائى كأن جنات قدسٍ

خيمت في ربوعها ورباها

They appear as though gardens of holiness

had encamped in her dwellings and on her hills.

قد عشقنا ترابها وهواء

مر فيها وكل طلٍّ سقاها

We have loved her soil, and the air

that passed through her, and every dewfall that watered her.

وبكينا لأجلها وضحكنا

وبعثنا الأرواح نحو علاها

And we have wept for her sake, and laughed,

and sent our spirits toward her heights.

ورأينا بأعين السر ناراً

أذكت الوجد في ذرى سيناها

And with the eyes of the inner mystery, we saw a fire

that kindled ecstasy on the summits of her Sinai.

ففقدنا الوجود منا هياما

واصطلاماً لما وجدنا هداها

So we lost our own existence in love's frenzy

and annihilation, when we found her guidance.

فرعاها الآله في كل آنٍ

وحماها وبالرضا حياها

So may God tend her at every moment,

and protect her, and greet her with favor.

هي نعم المزار والدار فالجب

بار داراً للمكرمات اصطفاها

She is an excellent shrine and dwelling, for the Almighty

chose her as a home for noble graces.

وانتقاها عروس قدسٍ وحلا

ها وفي حضرة القبول جلاها

And selected her as a bride of holiness, and adorned

her, and unveiled her in the presence of acceptance.

وطوىنشر مسكها وتولى

نشره في بلاده وارتضاها

And concealed her musk's fragrance, and undertook

to spread it in his lands, and was pleased with her.

فهي معراج روح كل ولي

ليس للأولياء قصدٌ سواها

For she is the ladder of ascent for every saint's soul;

the saints have no goal but her.