1. It has an owner, poverty is incumbent upon it, and its sides
Are travelled by the far-extending desert, the jokester transporting it,

2. You want with the Hajj and Ibn Layla’s son – both
Are best for its owner, its outstanding merits hoped for,

3. Visiting Allah’s House and the son of the Caliph –
Dew moistens its palms and its soft places,

4. And there were two in Egypt whom its people did not fear
An enemy, nor a drought feared to diminish its plenty,

5. Since he dwelt by the Nile, Ibn Layla’s son, for he
Pours forth upon the hands of the poor its obtainment,

6. So the people of the Nile woke up with their opinion of him
Evil, and after a torrent its banks were reassured,

7. I see the people, when Ibn Layla's son vacated his place,
Circling around the rain whose clouds have died,

8. As orphans circle around a compassionate mother
Who cares for them, when their father his features left them,

9. Say to the orphans, the widows and him
Whom you want for Ibn Layla’s land its meadows to roam,

10. They miss Ibn Layla fearfully from behind
And hopes for the supererogations his presence allows,

11. For they have from him as a hostage of loyalty
In his sublime traits pouring forth his streams,

12. Did Al-Farouq moisten his palms for the Most High
While the Extended House of Abu ‘l-‘Aas are its carriers?

13. The son of ten wanted to attain that which covered
The hoary head with glory, its aspirations rising high;

14. So the steed of his endeavor was reined in,
And he did not come until the evensong was its inquirer,

15. Do you not see that the Nile, its water ran out,
And dew died after Ibn Layla, its causer,

16. With death held ransom, the expensive his redemption,
Your chains upon him grow easy, O Ibn Layla,

17. No tomb has guaranteed the like of Ibn Layla
And none alive equals him while he lived.