1. هذا كتابٌ أم حديقة روضةٍ

    تتنزَّه الأحداقُ في أورادها

    Is this a book, or a garden in a meadow,

    Where eyes stroll among its roses?

  2. وتودُّ لو شرتْ العيونُ بياضهُ

    وسوادَه ببياضها وسوادها

    And the eyes wish they could buy its whiteness

    And its blackness with their own whiteness and blackness.

  3. نظمت بع غرر الكلام مصاقعٌ

    روحُ الفصاحة قام في أجسادها

    Masters of eloquence strung [in it?] the gems of speech;

    The spirit of eloquence has arisen in their bodies.

  4. غرراً بدت كالشهب إلاَّ أنَّها

    بزغت بليلٍ من سوادِ مدادها

    Gems that appeared like shooting stars, except that they

    Rose in a night of their ink's blackness.

  5. لو شنَّف الشادي الحَمام بها إذن

    خلعت له الأطواق من أجيادها

    If the singer adorned the doves' ears with them, then

    They would remove the collars from their necks for him.

  6. يهوى فؤادُ المرء يغدو مسمعاً

    ليحوز حظَّ السمع من إنشادها

    A person's heart longs to become an ear,

    To gain hearing's share of their recitation.

  7. لفظٌ أرقُّ من الصبا وفخامة

    معناه قُدَّ من أطوادها

    Diction more delicate than the east breeze, and a grandeur

    From whose towering mountains its meaning was hewn.

  8. دعْ ما يزخرفه الربيعُ وإن زهتْ

    أزهاره بين الربى ووهادها

    Leave aside what spring adorns, though radiant

    Are its flowers among the hills and their hollows.

  9. وتصفَّح الروضَ الخميل فرغبةً

    لثراه تنسي العينُ طيب رقادها

    And leaf through the lush garden, for longing

    For its soil makes the eye forget the sweetness of its sleep.

  10. تحظى بكلِّ طريفةٍ من حسنها

    غدت العقولُ العشر من روَّادها

    You gain every rare marvel of its beauty;

    The ten intellects have become its seekers.

  11. ويعدُّ من آل الجميل مناقباً

    تهوى النجومُ تكون من أعدادها

    And it recounts virtues of the house of al-Jamil,

    Which the stars long to be numbered among.