1. قد طالَ يا ليلى علىَّ نواكِ

    حتى غدا قلبي قتيلَ هواكِ

    Your absence has lasted long for me, O Layla,

    until my heart lay slain by love for you.

  2. والجسمُ منى ذائبٌ في حر نا

    ر الشوقِ هل لي مأملٌ بلقاكِ

    And my body melts in the heat of the fire

    of longing—have I any hope of meeting you?

  3. هلاّ علمتِ بأنني بكِ هائمٌ

    ودواءُ داءِ العاشقين هَوَاكِ

    Have you not known that I am madly in love with you?

    And love for you is the cure for lovers’ ailment.

  4. لا تبخلي بالوصْلِ إني عاشِقٌ

    مَا لِي طبيبٌ في الأنامِ سِوَاكِ

    Do not be sparing of union; I am a lover.

    I have no physician among humankind but you.

  5. وَصِلِى فإن لا أطيقُ تصبُّراً

    لا تهجُرِى مَن في الهوَى يَهْواكِ

    And grant me union, for I cannot force myself to be patient.

    Do not forsake the one who loves you in his passion.

  6. ومن الذي ينهاكَ عن وصلِ الهوَى

    أأخوك عن وَصْلِ الحبيب نَهَاكِ

    And who is it who forbids you the union of love?

    Did your brother forbid you union with the beloved?

  7. ماذا يضيرُك إنْ وَصلْتِ معذّباً

    دنِفاً كئيبَ القلبِ لا يَنساكِ

    What harm would it do you if you joined a tormented man,

    sick with love and heavy-hearted, who never forgets you?

  8. فاللّهُ يَرْعَى مَنْ يواصِلُ حبَّه

    ورَعَى الذي يَرْعَى الهوَى وَرَعَاكِ

    For God guards whoever sustains his love,

    and may He guard whoever cherishes love, and guard you.

  9. فعساكِ يا نشوانَة الألحاظِ أن

    تَصِلى عَميداً في هواكِ عَسَاكِ

    So perhaps, O you with drunken glances, you will

    grant union to one stricken with love for you—perhaps you will.

  10. فاقْضى بما شئتِ على مرّ الفَضَا

    فأنَا جُعِلتُ وَمَن بَراكِ فداكِ

    So decree as you wish, amid the bitterness of the expanse [unclear wording];

    for I have been made—by Him who fashioned you—your ransom.

  11. لولاكِ ما أبلى الهوَى جسمى وَلا

    أَمْسيتُ صبَّا في الهوَى لولاكِ

    But for you, love would not have worn away my body, nor

    would I have become distraught with love, but for you.

  12. أفْنَي الأسَى صبْرى وقلَّ تجلدى

    وازدَادَ شَوقي ثم طالَ عَناكِ

    Sorrow has exhausted my patience, and my fortitude has waned;

    and my longing has grown; then the torment you bring has dragged on.

  13. لا غروَ إنْ باعَ المتيمُ نفسهُ

    إن كان يا ليلاىَ يلْثم فاك

    No wonder if a man enslaved by love sells himself,

    if, O my Layla, he kisses your mouth.

  14. قد بعتُ نفسي فيكِ بيعاً قاطعاً

    عجباً لمَنْ قد بَاعَها وشَرَاكِ

    I have indeed sold myself for you in an irrevocable sale;

    how wondrous is he who has sold it and bought you!

  15. أنتِ الذي عذبتِ قلبي في الورى

    حتى الممات ولا يزالُ جواكِ

    You are the one who has tormented my heart among humankind,

    until death, and the burning ache for you does not cease.

  16. أفلمْ تَرقِّى للمتسم والذي

    مستوثق في ذا الرجا بِرَجَاكِ

    Have you not, then, pitied the marked one [unclear wording], and the one

    bound fast, in this hope, to hope in you?

  17. لو تَرْحمين لكانَ خيراً للذي

    يُمْسِى ويصبح تحت ظل رِدَاكِ

    If you showed mercy, it would be better for the one

    who spends evening and morning beneath the shade of your cloak.

  18. مِنكَ الهوَى والصدُّ والهجرانُ والتعذ

    يبُ كلُّ قد جَرى بِرِضَاكِ

    From you come love, rejection, abandonment, and torment;

    all has come to pass with your consent.

  19. جِسمي نَحيلٌ لا يزالُ من الهوى

    حتى غَدا من سُقْمِه كَحشَاكِ

    My body remains emaciated from love,

    until sickness has made it as slender as your waist.

  20. إنْ كانَ عارٌ في الوصال فلا أرَى

    عاراً علىَّ بأن أقبل فَاكِ

    If there is shame in union, I see no

    shame upon me in kissing your mouth.

  21. ذيَّاكَ بَرْق لاح لِي من عارضٍ

    أمْ ذاكَ يا ليلى ضيا سَنَاكِ

    Is that lightning that flashed before me from a cloud,

    or is it, O Layla, the light of your radiance?

  22. أَنَا والأنامُ جميعهُم يا مُنْيَتي

    فالكلُّ مِنّا يقتدي بضياكِ

    I and all humankind, O my cherished wish—

    so every one of us follows your light.

  23. نفسي وقلبي والعذولُ جميعُهم

    واللائمونَ وَمَن يَرَاك وَقَاكِ

    My soul, my heart, and the reproacher—all of them,

    and the faultfinders, and whoever sees you—may they protect you.

  24. سَقْياً لأيامِ الشبابِ مضت ولمْ

    تَرْجعْ على معهودِها وسَقَاكِ

    May the days of youth be watered! They passed and did not

    return as they once were; and may you too be watered.

  25. لا خيرَ في مدٍح إذا هو لم يكنْ

    في نجلِ سيفٍ ذِى النجار الزاكِى

    There is no good in praise if it is not

    of the son of Sayf, whose lineage is pure.