أَيَّ قَلُوصِ راكِبٍ تَراها

شالُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ فَشُلْ عَلاها

What saddle-bagged camel do you see it bearing,

They lifted up over it so it tottered in its loftiness,

وَاشْدُدْ بِمَثْنَى حَقَبٍ حَقوَاها

ناجِيَةً وَناجِياً أَباها

And steady it with a doubled saddlecloth, repair its defect,

Calling out, crying for its father?

وَاهَا لِلَيْلَى ثُمَّ وَاها واها

هِيَ المُنَى لَوْ أَنَّنا نِلْناها

Woe for Layla! Then woe, woe for it!

It is the wish if only we attain it.

يا لَيْتَ عَيْنَيْها لَنا وَفاها

بِثَمَنٍ نُرْضِي بِهِ أَباها

Oh would that her eyes be ours, that we obtain their union,

At a price we please her father with,

إِنَّ أَباها وَأَبَا أَباها

قَدْ بَلَغَا فِي المَجْدِ غايَتَاها

Indeed her father and her father's father

Have reached in glory their utmost extent.