1. God watered Baghdad and its inhabitants with life
A longing prayer with remembrance inflamed

2. Fate has turned away from it so it has nothing left
Except yearning and grief for the memory

3. It was an inhabited home and a perfect square
With pride in the world above all squares

4. It shone with the light of religion from you, with glorious
Deeds full of means of livelihood, most wondrous

5. The Commander of the Faithful saw you, by God's wisdom
Worthy of knowledge and ascendance

6. So those blessings you saw from Him exceeded
All your expected hopes

7. Governance under which every ruler falls
And proximity all seek to attain

8. And we still hope for, beyond that, an appearance
Of your glory from His diverse favors

9. May the Merciful grant it lasting joy
And fill it with blessings and lengthy delight

10. And empower it over East and West
The necks of subjects, obedient and defiant

11. Were it not for advanced age, I would have visited you
To let my eyes share in the joy with my hearing

12. And witnessed in Zawra' a quarter as though
I was born and raised there

13. But after seventy, seven left me
No ambition but the confinement of my neck

14. Peace be upon you, and interpret as you wish
My greetings to you from a visitor bidding farewell