إِذا شِئتَ أَن تَسمَعَ حَنيناً كَأَنَّهُ

حَنينُ المَطايا في البِلادِ البلاقعِ

If you wish to hear a yearning as though it were

The yearning of the riding camels in the resounding desert,

وَنوحاً كَأَنَّ الطائِراتِ تَنوحهُ

بِأَنفاسِ مَحزونٍ وَأَنَّةِ ساجِعِ

And a wailing as though birds wailed it

With sorrowful breaths and moaning of one who tosses in bed,

فَكُن مُنشِدَ البَيتِ الَّذي نَشدَانهُ

أَلَذُّ وَأَحلى في خُروقِ المَسامِعِ

Then become the reciter of the verse which we recited -

The sweetest and most delicious to pierced ears,

وَكَيفَ تَرى لَيلى بِعَينٍ تَرى بِها

سِواها وَما طَهَّرتها بِالمَدامِعِ

And how do you see Layla with an eye that sees with it

Other than her and has not purified it with tears?