بمنازلِ الفُسْطاطِ حلَّ فؤادي

فارْبَعْ على عَرَصاتِهن ونادِ

In the quarters of Fustat my heart found repose,

So linger in their broad expanses and call out,

يامصرُ هلْ عَرَضتْ لغصنٍ فوقهَ

قمرٌ لرَبْعِك أَوْبةٌ لِمَعاد

O Egypt, has any branch offered to you,

A moon for your quarter or rain for its plains?

تَرِفٌ يُميِّله الصِّبا مَيْل الصَّبا

بقَوامِ خُوط البانة المَيّاد

A gentle breeze sways it like the swaying

Of the slim waist of a fawn bending to drink.

أَتُرَى أَنالَ النِّيلَ بعضَ رُضابِه

فعَذُبْنَ منه مياهُ ذاك الوادي

Could it be the Nile has offered some of his sweetness

To freshen the waters of that valley?

فأَجاد منه طعمَه لكنّ ذا

يُرْوِى وذاك يَزيد كَرْبَ الصّادي

It improved their taste but still

Quenches the thirst and increases the want of the thirsty.

واهاً على تلك الرسوم فإنها

آثارُ أحبابي وأهلِ ودادي

Alas for those relics, for they are

Traces of my loved ones and kindred spirits.

فلقد أَحِنُّ لها ولَسْنَ منازلي

وأَوَدُّها شَغَفاً ولْسن بلادي

I yearn for them though my dwellings

Are far away, I love them passionately though not my country.

دِمنٌ لبستُ بها الشبابَ ولِمَّتِي

سَوداءُ تَرْفُل في ثياب حِداد

Homes in which I wore the garb of youth in my prime,

Jet black, fluttering in mourning robes.

والعيشُ غَضٌّ والديارُ قريبةٌ

وأَبيتُ من أَملي على ميعاد

Life is raw, home near,

Yet I refuse my wishes, awaiting reunion.

والقلبُ حيث القلبُ رَهْنٌ والظُّبا

حَدَقُ الظِّبا والغِيد قَيْدُ الغادي

My heart is hostage wherever it is,

The gazelle is intent on gazelles, the lost on the lost.

شَتَّتُّ شملُ الدمعِ لما شَتَّتوا

شَمْلي وصِحْتُ به بَدادِ بَدادِ

My tears dispersed when they dispersed -

My kin - and I awoke in Baghdad, in Baghdad!

فالآنَ تخترِقُ الدموعُ سَواكِبا

ما بينَ مثْنَى تَوْأَمٍ وفُرادِ

Now tears course down like stars

Between the Gemini and the Single One.

قانِي المَسيلِ كأنَّ فيضَ غُروبِه

فوقَ الخدود عُصارة الفِرْصاد

My tears resemble the overflowing

Of sunset, pressed on my cheeks like grape juice.