1. This serenity with bliss contended,
In a country that grants joy scattered,

2. It was not as fertile or pleasant living,
If the folk of slumber were wakeful,

3. Strange how its people forbid drinking nectar,
While those standing on carpets are drunk,

4. They are single and scattered, united
By the rubbish that tore down buildings,

5. The dinar distracted them from clothing it
In robes of splendor, so they revered the dinar,

6. They stood still for it, the whole existence, so it became
In their sights, this existence specks of dust,

7. The cities of Sudan became brides,
Dragging the train of coquetry arrogantly,

8. And the bride of the cities of the East bows her head
In shame wearing a beggar’s clothes in disgrace,

9. A beauty whose regal raiment was stripped
By the evil hands, so she began to conceal herself,

10. Secluded behind a wall as if she died,
And decay became her burying shroud,

11. O you who sat atop a palm you didn't deserve,
Throwing dirt on pockets generously!

12. What would a stranger say when he sees
The filth surrounding its palaces as bracelets?

13. And mud in the markets a towering dune,
And the roads make passersby stumble,

14. And light in the darkness a contending soul,
Who abandoned life and bid buildings farewell,

15. Does your conscience not whisper to you
To consider yourself, o ignorant, a donkey?

16. Or are you not moved by the state of a mother you betrayed,
And harvested in her humiliation burdens?

17. Are the sons incapable of clothing her
In robes of suns to outshine the moons?

18. Never! But they are distracted
By reproduction, so all are confused,

19. What can I say and how can I eulogize a country
Whose beauty exemplified early achievements?

20. Is it the most fertile spot on earth or its land
Deteriorates eras and buries civilizations?

21. It remained new in the course of time,
Remaining while ages pass away,

22. And it returns in the path of youth swaggering,
Dazzling minds, flirting and prancing,

23. Like the phoenix in Jewish legend renewed
By youth battling the storms,

24. It rose in the most delightful valley from a spot
Angels guarded, scintillating,

25. Gardens of Eden beneath which rivers flowed,
No light housing beasts and singles,

26. Wherever you turned you smelled from its corners
Scents, and smelled flowers and perfumes,

27. Its breezes revive the withered, its water
Heals the sick, and its soil is fragrant,

28. The gifted were infatuated with it and took to
Composing poems describing it,

29. So to you, o lair of the brilliant, I yearn
As the prime of my thoughts were enchanted.