1. صَهَرتُ في قدحِ الصهباءِ أحزاني

    وصُغتُ من ذَوبها شِعري وألحاني

    I melted my sorrows in a goblet of tawny wine.

    And from their molten substance I fashioned my poetry and melodies.

  2. وبتُّ في غَلَسِ الظلماءِ أُرسِلُها

    من غورِ روحي ومن أعماقِ وجداني

    And I spent the night sending them forth in darkness's predawn gloom,

    From the depths of my soul and the depths of my feelings.

  3. يا ليلُ ضاقت بشكوايَ الصدورُ وما

    ضاقَت بغلٍّ وأحقادٍ وأضغان

    O night, breasts had no room for my complaint, yet never

    Lacked room for rancor, hatreds, and grudges.

  4. فجئتُ أشكو إليكَ المرجفينَ وهم

    لا درَّ درُّهُمُ أسبابُ خذلاني

    So I came to complain to you of the rumor-mongers, who—

    May no good come from them!—are the causes of my abandonment.

  5. يا ليلُ والروح عَطشى وهيَ هائِمةٌ

    هَل في المجرّةِ من ريٍّ لعطشانِ

    O night, the soul is thirsty and wandering in longing;

    Is there in the Milky Way anything to quench a thirsty one?

  6. يا ليلُ والنفسُ غَرثى وهيَ حائرةٌ

    فهَل بنَجمِكَ من زادٍ لغَرثانِ

    O night, the soul is hungry and bewildered;

    Does your star hold any provision for the hungry?

  7. يا ليلُ والعينُ سهرى وهيَ دامعةٌ

    فهَل بجُنحِكَ من راثٍ لسَهرانِ

    O night, the eye is sleepless and tearful;

    Is there beneath your wing anyone to pity the sleepless?

  8. يا ليلُ حَسبي وصدري ملؤهُ ضرمٌ

    تلكَ البقيَّةُ فافتَح صَدركَ الحاني

    O night, my breast filled with fire, I need only

    That remnant; so open your tender breast.

  9. فكَم بهِ لمَسَت روحي العزاءَ وقد

    أودَعَتهُ سرّ آلامي وأشجاني

    For how often within it my soul has touched solace, having

    Entrusted it with the secret of my pains and sorrows.

  10. يا ليلُ أينَ الكرى بل أينَ طيفهُم

    فكَم بوادي الكرى يا ليلُ واساني

    O night, where is sleep—rather, where is their apparition?

    For how often, O night, it consoled me in sleep's valley!

  11. وكم هَفَت وَصَبَت نفسي إلى حُلُمٍ

    مُجنّحٍ راقصٍ في النورِ نَشوانِ

    And how often my soul fluttered and yearned toward a dream,

    Winged, dancing in the light, intoxicated with joy.

  12. حُلمٌ يرفُّ على لالاءِ مَبسِمها

    ليلاً ويَصدرُ صُبحاً غيرَ صَديانِ

    A dream that flutters over the radiance of her smile

    By night, and departs at dawn no longer parched.

  13. يا ساقيَ الخمرِ لا شُلَّت يداكَ أدِر

    بنتَ النخيلِ فإنّ الصحوَ أضناني

    O wine-pourer, may your hands never be paralyzed; pass round

    The daughter of the palms, for sobriety has worn me out.

  14. وانضَح بها كبداً نَهبَ الجوى واثر

    باللَه غافيَ إحساسي وإيماني

    And sprinkle it on a liver prey to love's anguish, and rouse,

    By God, my slumbering feeling and faith.

  15. فكم على ضوئِها الفضيّ من صُوَرٍ

    شتّى تجلّت لعيني ذات ألوان

    For how many images, in its silvery light,

    Varied and many-colored, revealed themselves to my eye!

  16. وَرُحتُ استَعرضُ الماضي فاطرَبني

    بها ومن ثمّ أشجاني وأبكاني

    And I began to review the past, and it delighted me

    Through it; then it saddened me and made me weep.

  17. حتّى سَكَبت على ذِكراهُ أغنيةً

    من وَحيِ بُؤسي ومن إلهامِ خِرماني

    Until I poured upon its memory a song

    From the prompting of my misery and the inspiration of my deprivation.

  18. يا ساقيَ الخَمرِ زِدني فالرؤى هَتَفَت

    بي وهيَ سكرى وما اغمَضتُ أجفاني

    O wine-pourer, give me more, for the visions called

    To me, intoxicated, though I had not closed my eyelids.

  19. تراقصَ الحَبَبُ المِمراحُ في قدَحي

    فأينَ أينَ الكرى من جفنِ سكرانِ

    The merry bubbles danced in my goblet;

    So where, where is sleep for a drunkard's eyelid?

  20. يا جيرةَ البانِ حيّا الغَيثُ رَوضَكمُ

    وجادَ واديكمُ يا جيرةَ البان

    O neighbors of the ban trees, may the rain greet your garden

    And generously water your valley, O neighbors of the ban trees.

  21. واللَهِ ما هبَطَت ليلايَ دارَكمُ

    إلّا وحلّت بها ما بينَ إخواني

    By God, my Layla never descended to your dwelling

    Without settling there among my brothers.

  22. فمَن بأحضانِ ذاكَ الروضِ شاهَدها

    مُواسياً غيرُ أقراني وخلّاني

    Who, then, saw her in that garden's embrace,

    Offering comfort, other than my peers and dear friends?

  23. ومَن على وردهِ المعطارِ نادمَها

    على الطّلا غيرُ سُمّاري ونُدماني

    And who, beside its fragrant roses, kept her company

    Over wine, other than my night companions and drinking friends?

  24. باللَهِ هل فُسِّرَت أحلامُ روضِكُم

    وهنّا لانسامِ آذارٍ ونيسانِ

    By God, were your garden's dreams interpreted

    Late at night, to the breezes of March and April?

  25. وهل شجا قلبَها نوحُ الحمامِ بهِ

    فاستَعبَرَت وَرَثَت لي بعدَ فقداني

    And did the doves' lament there sadden her heart,

    So that she wept and mourned me after losing me?

  26. وَهَل أنينُ سواقيهِ وأدمُعُها

    في الروضِ ذكّرَها بالوامقِ العاني

    And did the groaning of its waterwheels and their tears

    In the garden remind her of the captive lover?

  27. وهَل فراشاتهُ طافَت بوجنَتِها

    وغازلَت وهيَ نشوى وردَها القاني

    And did its butterflies circle about her cheek

    And, intoxicated, flirt with her crimson rose?

  28. يا أهلَ ليلايَ مُذ شطّ المزارُ بكم

    لا الحيُّ حيّي ولا الجيرانُ جيراني

    O people of my Layla, since your dwelling grew distant,

    The quarter is not my quarter, nor the neighbors my neighbors.

  29. كلّا ولا الروح روحي مُذ هفَت وصَبَت

    لساكني الحيّ من غيدٍ ومُردان

    No, nor is the soul my soul, since it fluttered and yearned

    For the quarter's dwellers—graceful women and beardless youths.

  30. نَزَحتُمُ وضبابُ الشكّ خيّمَ في

    آفاقِ نَفسي وكم بالكُفرِ أغراني

    You departed, and the fog of doubt settled over

    My soul's horizons; how often it would have lured me into unbelief,

  31. لولا بقيَّةُ إيمانٍ ترُفُّ منى

    قلبي على ضوئها في ليل أحزاني

    But for a remnant of faith, with the fluttering hopes

    Of my heart in its light, through the night of my sorrows.

  32. يا ساكِني القَصرِ دام السعدُ مُبتَسِماً

    لكُم ودُمتُم ودامَ النحسُ للشاني

    O dwellers of the palace, may good fortune keep smiling

    On you; may you endure, and ill fortune endure for the hater.

  33. إن يجحَدِ القومُ والأوطانُ فَضلَكُمُ

    لا القومُ قومي ولا الأوطانُ أوطاني

    If the people and the homelands deny your merit,

    The people are not my people, nor the homelands my homelands.

  34. لي بينَ غزلانِكم ظبيٌ كَلِفتُ به

    ظبيٌ تَرَعرَعَ في جنّاتِ رضوانِ

    Among your gazelles I have a gazelle with whom I am besotted,

    A gazelle who grew up in the gardens of Ridwan.

  35. واللَهُ أبدعَ في تصويرهِ وكفى

    أُعيدهُ بكمُ من كلِّ شَيطانِ

    And God excelled in shaping him—and that suffices;

    I seek your protection for him from every devil.

  36. ما أن وَقَفتُ عليها مُهجتي ودَمي

    حتّى قَصَرتُ أناشيدي وأوزاني

    No sooner had I devoted my soul and my blood to her

    Than I confined my songs and meters to her.

  37. فيا إله الهوى رفقاً بعابِدِها

    فالقلب ما نال من معبوده الثاني

    O god of love, be gentle with her worshipper,

    For the heart has gained nothing from its second idol.

  38. والفكرُ يا أهلَ ليلايَ استقَلَّ بها

    والروحُ يا مذبحَ العُشّاقِ قُرباني

    And thought, O people of my Layla, departed with her;

    And the soul, O altar of lovers, is my offering.

  39. حُبٌّ برىءٌ نما في خافِقي وَسَما

    وهَل يُعَمَّرُ حُبٌّ غيرُ روحاني

    An innocent love grew in my beating heart and rose high;

    And can a love that is not spiritual live long?